Ranger 3
| Ranger 3 | |||||||
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 Artist's impression of Ranger 3 |
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| NSSDC ID | 1962-001A | ||||||
| Mission goal | Photographing the moon | ||||||
| Client | NASA | ||||||
| Launcher | Atlas - Agena-B | ||||||
| Course of the mission | |||||||
| Start date | January 26, 1962 | ||||||
| launch pad | CCAFC LC-12 | ||||||
| End date | January 28, 1962 | ||||||
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Ranger 3 was a space probe from the US space agency NASA . It was the third probe in the Ranger's program to explore the moon .
mission
Ranger 3 launched on January 26, 1962 aboard an Atlas - Agena-B missile from the LC-12 launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . Due to technical malfunctions, it missed the moon by around 35,000 kilometers. After passing the moon, the probe swiveled into a solar orbit. The probe was the first of its kind to be developed and launched in the so-called Block II design . The aim of this mission was to take pictures of the surface of the moon. The probe should take pictures within ten minutes of its impact. A soft landing was not planned, i. that is, it would have hit the lunar surface hard and thereby been destroyed.
Ranger 3's mission was only partially successful.
swell
- Werner Büdeler: Moons by human hands , page 196 to 198