Lunar Impact The NASA History of Project Ranger

America's first successful attempt at unmanned lunar exploration, the nine Project Ranger missions culminated in close-up television images of the moon's surface. Sponsored by NASA and executed by the Jet Propulsion Lab, the project ran from 1959 to 1965. This official NASA publication, illustrated by more than 100 photographs, presents the program's complete history.

The Original Ranger    The Origins of Ranger    Organizing the Campaign    Space Science and the Ranger Machine    Ranger's Lunar Objectives in Doubt    Supporting the Flight Operations    Test Flights and Disappointments    A New National Goal    The Question of Science and Ranger    Lunar Exploration Begun    Which Way Ranger?    In the Cold Light of DawnThe New Ranger    Homestretch Engineering    Space Science: A New Era and Hard Times    More Missions for Science?    Six to the Moon    The Worst of Times    Ranger 7: A Crashing Success    Kudos and Questions    The Ranger LegacySourcesAppendixesIllustrations