Ranger 5
Ranger 5 — a Ranger lunar probe crippled by a power failure hours after launch (18 October 1962). Dead and unresponsive, it missed the Moon by about 725 km and passed into orbit around the Sun.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- NASA / JPL
- Launched
- October 18, 1962
- Status
- Lost
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.995 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 6,279,618 km
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.284 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Ranger 5 extended the run of misfortune to five. Launched on 18 October 1962, it lost electrical power a few hours into the flight — a short circuit left it running down its batteries with no way to recharge. Dead within hours, it coasted past the Moon, missing by about 725 kilometres, and drifted off into solar orbit. Five Ranger flights had now flown and not one had returned a usable picture of the Moon. The programme was redesigned and its management overhauled before the next attempt — the pressure to finally deliver was immense.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image