Fifty years ago today — January 26, 1962 — Ranger-3 launched from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas-Agena rocket.
(Ranger-3. NASA image.)
Ranger-3 had several mission goals, only the last of which would be fulfilled:
- “Transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon”
- “Rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon”
- “Collect gamma-ray data in flight”
- “Study radar reflectivity of the lunar surface”
- “Continue testing of the Ranger program for development of lunar and interplanetary spacecraft”
The mission profile called for the Atlas-Agena to provide the initial boost toward the Moon, with one mid-course correction on the way. Unfortunately,
A malfunction in the booster guidance system resulted in excessive spacecraft speed. Reversed command signals caused the spacecraft to pitch in the wrong direction and the TM antenna to lose earth acquisition, and mid-course correction was not possible. Finally a spurious signal during the terminal maneuver prevented transmission of useful TV pictures. Ranger 3 missed the Moon by approximately 36,800 km on 28 January and is now in a heliocentric orbit.
Sounds like Mr. Murphy of the eponymous law paid the Ranger program a visit. But, to paraphrase my friend Bill Hixon, a test is worth a thousand expert opinions — and sometimes we learn more from failures than from successes.
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