Pictures before goodbye
told by Ranger 7
Pictures before goodbye
Told by Ranger 7
- Chapters
- 5
- Reading
- 6 min
- Ways to read
- 2
I had no landing legs and no way home. My job was to fall toward the Moon, look closely, and send the pictures back before I arrived. These are five true events from that one-way journey.
Chapters
Each chapter is one true event. Start anywhere.
- 01The six-eyed camera towerRanger 7 is built to photograph the Moon during a deliberate impact1 min
- 02Six Rangers before meThe Ranger 6 television failure and the changes made before Ranger 72 min
- 03Peanuts and a steering burnRanger 7 launches, cruises to the Moon and fires its midcourse engine1 min
- 04Seventeen minutes of picturesRanger 7 transmits the first close-up images of the Moon by a U.S. spacecraft1 min
- 05The half-finished final frameRanger 7's final transmission and its impact in Mare Cognitum1 min
About this book
Ranger 7 tells its own story in an imagined voice. Those lines are retellings, not quotations. The events, dates and numbers come from the mission records listed here, and each chapter links its own sources as you read.
The machine illustration is AI-made. Photos are from the NASA Image and Video Library and are credited where they appear.
Meet Ranger 7Sources · 11
- The six-eyed camera towernssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
- NSSDCA · The Ranger 7 television experimentnssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
- NASA Science · Ranger 7 mission overviewscience.nasa.gov
- NASA History · 60 Years Ago: Ranger 7 Photographs the Moonnasa.gov
- Six Rangers before mescience.nasa.gov
- NASA History · Lunar Impact (NASA SP-4210)nasa.gov
- NASA · First image of the Moon from a U.S. spacecraft (PIA02975)images.nasa.gov
- NASA · Guericke Crater from Ranger 7 (PIA02974)images.nasa.gov
- LPI · Ranger 7 photographic archivelpi.usra.edu
- LPI · Ranger 7 frame P/200 (final transmission)lpi.usra.edu
- LROC · Ranger 7 impact crater M153014430Llroc.im-ldi.com
Sources
- The six-eyed camera towernssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
- NSSDCA · The Ranger 7 television experimentnssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
- NASA Science · Ranger 7 mission overviewscience.nasa.gov
- NASA History · 60 Years Ago: Ranger 7 Photographs the Moonnasa.gov
- Six Rangers before mescience.nasa.gov
- NASA History · Lunar Impact (NASA SP-4210)nasa.gov
- NASA · First image of the Moon from a U.S. spacecraft (PIA02975)images.nasa.gov
- NASA · Guericke Crater from Ranger 7 (PIA02974)images.nasa.gov
- LPI · Ranger 7 photographic archivelpi.usra.edu
- LPI · Ranger 7 frame P/200 (final transmission)lpi.usra.edu
- LROC · Ranger 7 impact crater M153014430Llroc.im-ldi.com
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