To get to the moon was another whole problem from getting to orbit. We had to figure out the trajectory to get a rocket to leave earth orbit and hit the moon at just the right angle, so far away. The first attempt at this was the Ranger Program. The mission was to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon to take close up pictures to use to plan for landing sites and prove the ability to get there.
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| Ranger Spacecraft deployed |
The plan was to point it at the moon and crash it into the surface. Just before it crashed, it was supposed to take a stream of pictures and quickly radio them to earth, before the crash. Remember, these are the days of tube TVs, black and white, everything is analog. Even faxes were a military grade product in those days.
For this to work, the Ranger had to leave earth orbit, make it to the moon, actually hit the moon, orient itself so the antenna pointed to earth, take the pictures at the right time, and get them transmitted. All without component failure. The first launch was in August, 1961. I followed these like a NFL playoff. It was a series of defeats. Ranger 1 and 2 failed due to launch vehicle (missile) failures and were stuck in earth orbit. A disappointing start.
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| Ranger Spacecraft being placed in the nose cone |
The orbital mechanics were to launch the Ranger into earth orbit. Then, at the right time, fire another rocket for just the right about of time to propel it out of orbit and towards where the moon was going to be in a little over three days. Then try to track where it is and send radio signals to correct the path so it actually hits the desired spot on the moon.
In 1962 we launched three more Rangers. They used a different launch vehicle and all of them made it out of earth orbit. They were also equipped with a retro rocket to slow the descent to the moon so more pictures could be taken. Ranger 3 missed the moon, Ranger 4 hit the moon, but failed due to launch failures, Ranger 5 also missed the moon.
These series of flights were very disappointing, and I followed them all. The team was 0-5.
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