Ranger 8
Ranger 8 — the second successful Ranger (launched 17 February 1965). It returned over 7,000 images across a wide sweep of Mare Tranquillitatis before impact, scouting the smooth plains Apollo would need.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- NASA / JPL
- Launched
- February 17, 1965
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 1.01 AU
- Distance from Earth
- 433,784 km
- Distance from Venus
- 0.603 AU
Mission
Ranger 8 confirmed that Ranger 7 had been no fluke. Launched on 17 February 1965, it flew to the Moon and, in the minutes before impact in Mare Tranquillitatis, returned more than 7,000 photographs across a broad sweep of the lunar plains. Where Ranger 7 had studied one site intensively, Ranger 8 was flown to survey a wider area, scouting the smooth equatorial maria that the Apollo planners were eyeing for the first crewed landings. It was a clean, workmanlike success — exactly the routine competence the programme had struggled so long to reach.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image