Ranger 1
| Ranger 1 | |||||||
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 Ranger 1 |
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| NSSDC ID | 1961-032A | ||||||
| Mission goal | Photographing the moon | ||||||
| Client |
 NASA
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| Launcher | Atlas - Agena-B | ||||||
| construction | |||||||
| Takeoff mass | 304 kg | ||||||
| Course of the mission | |||||||
| Start date | 23rd August 1961 | ||||||
| launch pad | CCAFC LC-12 | ||||||
| End date | August 30, 1961 | ||||||
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Ranger 1 was a probe under the US Ranger Program and was launched on August 23, 1961 with an Atlas - Agena-B rocket from the LC-12 launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . The main task of Ranger 1 was to test the procedures and equipment required for the following space and lunar missions. A secondary goal was to study the nature of particles and fields in space.
The spacecraft was based on the Block I design of the Ranger project and was built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory . It consisted of an octagonal base with a diameter of 1.5 m on which a four meter high, conical aluminum tower made of struts was mounted. Two solar wings , which when extended, measured 5.2 m from tip to tip, were also attached to the base. There was also an antenna mounted on the floor of the base. The experiments and other equipment were also attached to the base or tower. The total mass of the probe was 306.2 kg. The temperature was passively controlled by either gilding the surfaces, painting them white, or polishing the aluminum surfaces.
The mission
Ranger one should first in a parking orbit around the earth linger from there into a 60,000 to 1,100,000 km high orbit to come. The probe was launched into parking orbit as planned, but the Agena-B upper stage could not be re-ignited to raise the satellite orbit further. When Ranger 1 broke away from the Agena stage, it got into low earth orbit and began to stagger. On August 30, 1961, it re-entered the earth's atmosphere and burned up.
Ranger 1's mission was only partially successful. The main task, testing the equipment, was largely accomplished, but little scientific data was collected.
Web links
- Bernd Leitenberger: The Ranger lunar probes
- Lunar Impact - A History of Project Ranger , online version of a NASA book