Ranger 7
| Ranger 7 | ||||||||||
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 Ranger 7 |
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| NSSDC ID | 1964-041A | |||||||||
| Mission goal | Photographing the moon | |||||||||
| Client | NASA | |||||||||
| Launcher | Atlas - Agena-B | |||||||||
| construction | ||||||||||
| Takeoff mass | 365 kg | |||||||||
| Course of the mission | ||||||||||
| Start date | July 28, 1964 | |||||||||
| launch pad | CCAFC LC-12 | |||||||||
| End date | July 31, 1964 | |||||||||
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Ranger 7 was a space probe from the US space agency NASA . It was the seventh probe in the Ranger's program to explore the moon . Like Ranger 6 , it was built in the so-called Block III design and weighed 365 kilograms. Major changes in contrast to Ranger 6 were improved protection against short circuits. Like the previous missions, it was supposed to take pictures of the lunar surface in the last few minutes before impact and transmit them to earth.
mission
Ranger 7 was launched on July 28, 1964 aboard an Atlas - Agena-B missile from the LC-12 launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . After reaching the Parkbahn at an altitude of 192 kilometers, the Agena upper level ignited and Ranger 7 set course for the moon. On July 31, 1964 at 1:08 p.m., the first image of the surface of the moon was taken from an altitude of 2110 kilometers. In total, Ranger 7 transmitted 4305 images of excellent quality in the last 17 minutes before the impact on the lunar surface. The last picture transmitted before the impact had a resolution of 50 cm. After a 68-hour flight, Ranger 7 hit the Mare Nubium at a speed of 2.62 km / s as planned .
Web links
- NASA: Ranger 7
- Bernd Leitenberger: The Ranger moon probes
- Lunar Impact - A History of Project Ranger , online version of a NASA book