Ranger program

E931828

The Ranger program was an early U.S. lunar exploration initiative that sent a series of unmanned spacecraft to photograph and impact the Moon, paving the way for later Surveyor and Apollo missions.

All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Ranger program canonical 5
Ranger Block I 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf NASA program
lunar exploration program
communicationBand S-band
contributedTo selection of Apollo landing sites
understanding of lunar surface morphology
country United States
endDate 1965
era early Space Age
firstLaunch Ranger 1
firstLaunchDate 1961-08-23
firstSuccessfulMission Ranger 7
followedBy Apollo program
Surveyor program
fundingAgency United States government
imageTransmissionMethod analog television
impactSiteRegion Mare Cognitum
Mare Nubium
Mare Tranquillitatis
lastLaunch Ranger 9
lastLaunchDate 1965-03-21
launchSite Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 12
launchVehicle Atlas LV-3 Agena-B
managingAgency Jet Propulsion Laboratory
missionProfile direct impact on lunar surface
notableMission Ranger 7
Ranger 8
Ranger 9
numberOfFailures 6
numberOfMissions 9
numberOfSuccessfulMissions 3
objective impact the lunar surface
obtain close-up images of the Moon
support planning for Apollo crewed landings
operator NASA
parentAgency United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration
linked to: NASA
partOf United States lunar exploration program
precededBy Pioneer program
scienceReturn high-resolution lunar images
scientificDiscipline lunar science
planetary science
spacecraftBus Ranger Block I
Ranger Block II
Ranger Block III
spacecraftPowerSource solar panels
spacecraftType uncrewed lunar probe
startDate 1959
status completed
target Moon
technologyDemonstration television imaging from lunar approach

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (6)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.