Mission Details
| Mission Name: Ranger 7 |
| Mission Type: Lunar Impact |
| Operator: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) |
| Launching State: United States |
| Location: Mare Cognitum |
| Latitude: -10.63 |
| Longitude: -20.55 |
| Launch Date: 28 July 1964, 16:50:00 UT |
| Landing Date: 31 July 1964, 16:50:00 UT |
| Objects on or Related to Site: Ranger 7 |
| Image Source: NASA |
Description
The Ranger project of the 1960s was a US effort to launch probes directly toward the Moon. The spacecraft were designed to relay pictures and other data as they approached the Moon and finally crash-landed into its surface. A variety of difficulties plagued the first several attempted missions in this series, but the later Rangers were finally a complete success.
The mission of Ranger 7 was to take high-resolution photographs of the Moon before impacting the lunar surface.
Read more:
https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/ranger.html
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/ranger-7/
Heritage Consideration
The images taken by Ranger 7 helped scientists conclude the Apollo astronauts could safely land in the smooth mare regions (the “seas”) of the Moon.
Object on or Related to Site
| Object Name: Ranger 7 | |
| Cospar: 1964-007A | |
| Norad: N/A | |
| Location: Precise location unknown or undisclosed. | |
| Launch Date: 28 July 1964, 16:50:00 UT | |
| Landing Date: 31 July 1964, 16:50:00 UT | |
| Deployment: N/A | |
| End Date: N/A | |
| Function: Lunar imagery. | |
| Image Source: NASA |
Description
Launched on July 28, 1964, Ranger 7 was designed to achieve a lunar-impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. Ranger 7 transmitted over 4,300 photographs during the final 17 minutes of its flight.
