Ranger 9

USA

Launch data:

Designation	01294 / 65023A
Launch date	21 Mar 1965 - 21:37 UT
Launch site	CC, LC12
Launch vehicle	Atlas-LV3 Agena-B (#204D/AA14)
Mission	Lunar impact
Payload code	Ranger-D
Maximum distance
from Earth	400.000 km
All-burnt velocity	11,0 km/sec
Decay	24 Mar 1965 (Lunar impact)

Successful image return. Hit Moon 24 Mar 1965 at 14h 08m 20s (UT)
Impact: 12,9°S - 2,4°W

Spacecraft data:

Prime contractor
Operator	NASA
Mass at launch	366 kg
Dry Mass	kg
Dimensions	1,52 dia - 2,51 long
Basic shape	hexagonal cylinder

Notes:

The Ranger missions were launched from Cape Canaveral in a programme which cost $260 million. The purpose of the flights was to provide data about the lunar surface in preparation for the Apollo missions of the late 1960's and early 1970's.
The Lunar-Orbiter and Surveyor missions followed, but Ranger gave the first data in a way that ground-based telescopes never could. After the success of Ranger-9, the further missions of numbers 10 to 14 werecancelled. Ranger 1 and 2 were Block-1 spacecraft, while Rangers 3,4 and 5 were Block-II, and the final Rangers 6,7,8 and 9 were Block-III.
At the end of the Block-II flights a NASA inquiry found that the heat-sterilisation at 125°C for 24 hours caused severe electrical failures and the practice was stopped. This resulted in the failures of the soft-landing speres which together with their retro-rockets were called "TONTO" and weighed 136 kg. If they had soft-landed they would have measured moon-tremors, radiation and temperatures.

Mission details

Successful Ranger lunar impact photographic flight with a 64 hr 31 min duration mission to impact near the crater Alphonsus at 12°58' S, 2°22' W. The cameras switched on at a height of 2 262 km and then took 5814 pictures which were usable from the 6007 taken, with the last at 0.2 sec at a height of 612 maters, with 0.25 m resolution. The initial area photographed was 417 054 km.
Returned 5814 images before lunar impact. The Atlas- Agena B booster injected the Agena and Ranger 9 into an Earth parking orbit at 185 km altitude. A 90 second Agena 2nd burn put the spacecraft into lunar transfer trajectory. This was followed by the separation of the Agena and Ranger. 70 minutes after launch the command was given to deploy solar panels, activate attitude control, and switch from the omni-directional antenna to the high-gain antenna. The accuracy of the initial trajectory enabled delay of the planned mid-course correction from 22 March to 23 March when the manoeuvre was initiated at 12:03 GMT. After orientation, a 31 second rocket burn at 12:30 GMT, and reorientation, the manoeuvre was completed at 13:30 GMT.
Ranger 9 reached the Moon on 24 March 1965. At 13:31 GMT a terminal manoeuvre was executed to orient the spacecraft so the cameras were more in line with the flight direction to improve the resolution of the pictures. Twenty minutes before impact the one-minute camera system warm-up began. The first image was taken at 13:49:41 at an altitude of 2363 km. Transmission of 5,814 good contrast photographs was made during the final 19 minutes of flight. The final image taken before impact has a resolution of 0.3 meters. The spacecraft encountered the lunar surface with an incoming asymptotic direction at an angle of -5.6 degrees from the lunar equator. The orbit plane was inclined 15.6 degrees to the lunar equator. After 64.5 hours of flight, impact occurred at 14:08:19.994 GMT at approximately 12.83 S latitude, 357.63 E longitude in the crater Alphonsus. Impact velocity was 2.67 km/s. Real time television coverage with live network broadcasts of many of the F-channel images (primarily camera B but also some camera A pictures) were provided for this flight. Later the images were shown to the press as a continuous-motion movie, l eading astronaut Wally Schirra to yell ‘bail out you fool!’ just before the final frame.

Ref.: #1, #6(PMS031), #7, #8, #11(1998), #28(1966), #102(SL9) - update: 9.07.05

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