Ranger 5

Ranger 5 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight, to study radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, and to continue testing of the Ranger program for development of lunar and interplanetary spacecraft. Due to an unknown malfunction, the spacecraft ran out of power and ceased operation. It passed within 725 km of the Moon.

Ranger 5
Ranger 5
Mission typeLunar impactor
OperatorNASA
Harvard designation1962 Beta Eta 1
COSPAR ID1962-055A
SATCAT no.439
Mission duration8 hours 44 minutes
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerJet Propulsion Laboratory
Launch mass342.46 kg
Dimensions1.52 m × 2.51 m (5.0 ft × 8.2 ft)
Power135 W
Start of mission
Launch dateOctober 18, 1962, 16:59:00 (1962-10-18UTC16:59Z) UTC
RocketAtlas LV-3 Agena-B 215D/AA7
Launch siteCape Canaveral LC-12
Orbital parameters
Reference systemHeliocentric
Eccentricity0.056
Perihelion altitude0.9839 AU
Aphelion altitude1.163 AU
Inclination0.44°
Period370.22 days
Lunar flyby (failed impact)
Closest approachOctober 21, 1962
Distance724 kilometers (450 mi)
 
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