Ranger 9

Ranger 9 was a spacecraft of the U.S. space agency NASA. She was the ninth and last probe as part of the Ranger program for exploration of the moon. She was like Ranger Ranger 6 to 7 built in the so-called 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 9 launched on 21 March 1965, on an Atlas - Agena B rocket LC - 12 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. After reaching the parking orbit at 185 km altitude was a 90 -second ignition of the Agena upper stage and brought Ranger 9 on a trajectory to the Moon. 70 minutes after the start they deployed their solar panels. On March 23, 1965 was a 31 -second firing of the thrusters. On March 24, 1965 Ranger 9 reached the moon. The first picture was taken from an altitude of 2363 km at 13:49 UT clock. The last image had a resolution of 0.3 meters, making it the highest -resolution image of the Ranger missions. After 64 hours, mission duration hit them with about 2.67 km / s in the crater Alphonsus one.

The mission was a success.

Trivia

The last pictures of the probe were broadcast live on American television.