Ranger 8

Ranger 8 was a spacecraft of the U.S. space agency NASA. She was the eighth probe as part of the Ranger program for exploration of the moon. She was like Ranger 6 Ranger 7 and built in block III Design and weighed 367 kg. Like the previous missions they should make in the final minutes before impact images of the lunar surface and send back to Earth.

Mission

Ranger 8 launched on 17 February 1965, on an Atlas - Agena B rocket from LC - 12 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. After reaching the parking orbit at 185 km altitude, the Agena upper stage was ignited after 14 minutes for 90 seconds and brought Ranger 8 on a train to the moon. Some minutes later separated the probe from the upper stage and unfurled their solar panels. On February 20, 1965 Ranger 8 reached the Moon. At 09:34 UTC clock was made from an altitude of 2510 kilometers above the surface of the first image and transmitted. The last image had a resolution of 1.5 meters. The probe failed with approximately 2.68 km / s to 64- hour flight in Mare Tranquillitatis one. Overall, this probe sent 7137 images.

The mission was a success.

Trivia

In paintings of the started in 2009 probe Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the point of impact can be seen.