|
|
Assignment Shoot The Moon Ep
…
ASSIGNMENT: SHOOT THE MOON (
…
1967
| Description |
ASSIGNMENT: SHOOT THE MOON (EPISODE 5) HQ 167 - (1967) - 28 Minutes Summarizes the exploration of the Moon conducted by the unmanned Ranger, Surveyor, and lunar orbiter spacecraft. Also shows how such detailed data and photography contributed to the first manned flights to the Moon. The film describes the complexities of close-up photography of the Moon and includes views of craters, mountain ranges, and other lunar terrain. AWARDS: Golden Eagle, Council on International Nontheatrical Events (CINE), 1968 * Award of Merit, American Film Festival, 1968 |
| Date |
1967 |
|
Ranger 4 Preparations
| title |
Ranger 4 Preparations |
| date |
03.06.1962 |
| description |
Technicians prepare the Ranger 4 spacecraft for launch. An impact absorbing sphere made of balsa wood sits atop the spacecraft, painted with a saw-tooth pattern to maintain thermal balance during its mission to the Moon. The sphere contained a lunar seismometer, which was to rough land just south of the equator on the rim of the Ocean of Storms and measure "lunarquakes." The master clock in Ranger 4's computer failed during flight and the spacecraft did not respond to commands. It crashed into the far side of the Moon on April 26, 1962. Despite the failure to return information, the use of balsa wood was an important precursor in the design of other rough landings on extraterrestrial bodies, particularly Mars. Aerobraking, gliding, impact absorption, parachuting, and retro rockets have all been considered. *Image Credit*: Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
|
The Ranger Spacecraft
| title |
The Ranger Spacecraft |
| description |
The Ranger fleet of spacecraft launched in the mid-sixties provided for the first time live television transmissions of the Moon from lunar orbit. These transmissions resolved surface features as small as 10 inches across and provided over 17,000 images of the lunar surface. These detailed photographs allowed scientists and engineers to study the Moon in greater detail than ever before thus allowing for the design of a spacecraft that would one day land men of Earth on its surface. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
Listening to Ranger 6
| title |
Listening to Ranger 6 |
| date |
02.02.1964 |
| description |
An audience at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory listens to a description of the final moments of Ranger 6 in 1964. Ranger 6 impacted the Moon as planned on Feb. 2, 1964, but a malfunction disabled its camera system. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
Ranger 3
| title |
Ranger 3 |
| date |
01.26.1962 |
| description |
Ranger 3 was designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight, to study radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, and to continue testing of the Ranger program for development of lunar and interplanetary spacecraft. Due to a series of malfunctions the spacecraft missed the Moon. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
First Ranger 9 Image
| title |
First Ranger 9 Image |
| date |
03.24.1965 |
| description |
The first Ranger 9 image of the Moon, taken with the A camera from a distance of 2378 km. The image is centered on the Mare Nubium region of the Moon, which extends to the bottom of the image. At upper left is southeastern Oceanus Procellarum. The two craters with the central peaks at right are Alphonsus, diameter 108 km, and below it Arzachel, diameter 96 km. The crater near the center at about 8:00 is 60 km Bullialdus. The frame is approximately 1050 km across and north is at 12:30. The final impact point of Ranger 9 is in the Alphonsus crater, midway between the central peak and rim at about 1:30. (Ranger 9, A001) *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
First Picture of the Moon Ta
…
| title |
First Picture of the Moon Taken by Ranger 8 |
| date |
02.20.1965 |
| description |
First full-frame image of the Moon taken by the Ranger 8 camera A from a distance of 2,573 km. The image was taken on 20 Feb. 1965 at 09:34 UT with the spacecraft at an altitude of 2510 km. The central reticle is at 10.65 degrees south latitude, 22.4 degrees west longitude, in the Mare Cognitum area of the Moon. North is up, and the picture extends 1200 km across, from about 5 N to 30 S latitude, and from 5 W to 45 W longitude. The craters Campanus and Mercator are visible at the bottom center. Gassandi crater (101 km diameter) is the bright circle near the edge of the frame at 8:00. The Apollo 12 landing site is near top center and Apollo 14 slightly to the right of that. (Ranger 8, A001) *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
First U.S. Image of the Moon
| title |
First U.S. Image of the Moon |
| date |
07.31.1964 |
| description |
Ranger 7 took this image, the first picture of the Moon by a U.S. spacecraft, on July 31, 1964 at 13:09 UT (9:09 AM EDT) about 17 minutes before impacting the lunar surface. The area photographed is centered at 13 S, 10 W and covers about 360 km from top to bottom. The large crater at center right is the 108 km diameter Alphonsus. Above it is Ptolemaeus and below it Arzachel. The terminator is at the bottom right corner. Mare Nubium is at center and left. North is at about 11:00 at the center of the frame. The Ranger 7 impact site is off the frame, to the left of the upper left corner. (Ranger 7, B001) The Ranger series of spacecraft were designed solely to take high-quality pictures of the Moon and transmit them back to Earth in real time. The images were to be used for scientific study, as well as selecting landing sites for the Apollo Moon missions. Ranger 7 was the first of the Ranger series to be entirely successful. It transmitted 4,308 high-quality images over the last 17 minutes of flight, the final image having a resolution of 0.5 meter/pixel. Ranger 7 was launched July 28, 1964 and arrived at the Moon on July 31, 1964. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
Ranger 4
| title |
Ranger 4 |
| date |
04.23.1962 |
| description |
Ranger 4 was designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight, to study radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, and to continue testing of the Ranger program for development of lunar and interplanetary spacecraft. An onboard computer failure caused failure of the deployment of the solar panels and navigation systems, the spacecraft impacted on the far side of the Moon without returning any scientific data. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
The Ranger Spacecraft
| Title |
The Ranger Spacecraft |
| Full Description |
The Ranger fleet of spacecraft launched in the mid-sixties provided for the first time live television transmissions of the Moon from lunar orbit. These transmissions resolved surface features as small as 10 inches across and provided over 17,000 images of the lunar surface. These detailed photographs allowed scientists and engineers to study the Moon in greater detail than ever before thus allowing for the design of a spacecraft that would one day land men of Earth on its surface. |
| Date |
01/01/1961 |
| NASA Center |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
|
JPL's Space Flight Operation
…
| Title |
JPL's Space Flight Operations Facility |
| Full Description |
In May 1964, a ceremony was held to dedicate the new Space Flight Operations Facility, which used state-of-the-art equipment for mission operations and communications with JPL's unmanned spacecraft. One of the first missions to use the facility was Ranger 7, which went to the Moon in July 1964. The Space Flight Operations Facility collected the tracking and scientific information for the Deep Space Network. In 1985, the Space Flight Operations Facility was designated as a National Historic Landmark. It is still in use. |
| Date |
UNKNOWN |
| NASA Center |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
|
Hubble Resolves Expiration D
…
| Title |
Hubble Resolves Expiration Date For Green Cheese Moon |
| Explanation |
Using the new camera on the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://hubblesite.org/reference_desk/faq/ answer.php.id=77&cat=topten ], astronomers have been able to confirm that the Moon is made of green cheese [ http://www.planetfusion.co.uk/~pignut/cheese.html ]. The telling clue was the resolution of a marked date after which the Moon [ http://www.nineplanets.org/luna.html ] may go bad. Controversy [ http://peace.saumag.edu/faculty/Kardas/Courses/ GPWeiten/C1Intro/GreenCheese.html ] still exists, however, over whether the date resolved is truly an expiration date [ http://www.consumeraffairs.com/nutrition/ expiration_dates.htm ] or just a "sell by" date. "To be cautious, we should completely devour the Moon by tomorrow," a spokesperson advised. Happy April Fool's Day from the folks at APOD [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050616.html ]. The above image [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/ ra9_b001.html ] (slightly altered) was actually taken in 1965 by the Ranger 9 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/ MasterCatalog?sc=1965-023A ] probe minutes before impact. The popular Moon is made of Green Cheese [ http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990723a.html ] myth can be traced back almost 500 years. It has been used historically in context to indicate a claim so clearly false that no one -- not even April Fools [ http://wilstar.com/holidays/aprilfool.htm ] -- will believe it. |
|
Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Ar
…
| Title |
Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel |
| Explanation |
These three ancient, large impact craters lie on the north eastern shores [ http://www.lunarrepublic.com/atlas/sections/e4.shtml ] of Mare Nubium, the lunar [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/lunarform/ maria.html ] Sea of Clouds. Along the top of the stark mosaic [ http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_pages/Big_mosiac.html ] (left to right) are the namesakes of [ http://www.cityastronomy.com/ptolemy-article.htm ] Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel. The picture offers a remarkably detailed view of the well-studied [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonsus_(crater) ] region with shadows emphasizing the large crater central peaks and slumping walls. Careful examination also reveals the 110 kilometer long Straight Wall [ http://www.salzgeber.at/astro/moon/straight_wall.html ], a fault 200-300 meters high, and the intriguing Davy crater chain [ http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/ 3dsolarsystem/slide_17.html ]. Overall, the striking moonscape is similar to the final images recorded by the Ranger 9 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/ MasterCatalog?sc=1965-023A ] spacecraft, before it crashed into the 108 kilometer wide crater Alphonsus in [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060401.html ] March of 1965. |
|
Hubble Resolves Expiration D
…
| Title |
Hubble Resolves Expiration Date For Green Cheese Moon |
| Explanation |
Using the new camera [ http://www.stsci.edu/hst/localNews?display_type=all#HeadlineNews ] on the recently refitted [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020314.html ] Hubble Space Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html ], astronomers have been able to confirm that the Moon is made of green cheese [ http://www.cheese.com/facts1.asp ]. The telling clue was the resolution of a numeric date after which the Moon [ http://www.nineplanets.org/luna.html ] may go bad. Controversy [ http://peace.saumag.edu/faculty/Kardas/Courses/GPWeiten/C1Intro/GreenCheese.html ] still exists, however, over whether the date resolved is truly an expiration date [ http://www.consumeraffairs.com/nutrition/expiration_dates.htm ] or just a "sell by" date. "To be cautious, we should completely devour the Moon by tomorrow," a spokesperson advised. Happy April Fool's Day [ http://www.usis.usemb.se/Holidays/celebrate/april.html ] from the folks at APOD [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html ]. The above image [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/ra9_b001.html ] (slightly altered) was actually taken in 1965 by the Ranger 9 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1965-023A.html ] probe minutes before impact. The popular "Moon is made of Green Cheese" myth [ http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990723a.html ] can be traced back almost 500 years. It [ http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/wcc3/humor/green_cheese.html ] has been used historically in context to indicate a claim so clearly false that no one -- not even April Fools [ http://wilstar.com/holidays/aprilfool.htm ] -- will believe it. |
|
The Sea of Tranquillity: 5 S
…
| Title |
The Sea of Tranquillity: 5 Seconds To Impact |
| Explanation |
On February 20th, 1965, the Ranger 8 spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/ranger.html ] crashed into the Moon [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html ]. Rapidly transmitting a series of pictures to ground controllers, its camera recorded this one [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/ra8_b090.html ] at an altitude of about 11 kilometers, 5 seconds before impacting the lunar surface. Two kilometers across, with 4 meter sized objects visible, the picture is of an area in the Sea of Tranquillity north of the Apollo 11 [ http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ap11ann/introduction.htm ] landing site. The Ranger spacecraft represented the first attempts by the US to obtain high resolution photos of the Moon, flying a crash course toward selected areas and sending back pictures until the moment of impact. Tomorrow, another spacecraft [ http://ccf.arc.nasa.gov/dx/basket/pressrelease/99_36AR.html ] will be intentionally crashed into the Moon. Its very successful mission in lunar orbit complete, the Lunar Prospector [ http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/ ] is scheduled to crash [ http://www.lunarimpact.com/ ] into a crater near the Moon's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980115.html ] south pole in an effort to confirm the presence of water-ice [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980306.html ] by studying the impact's debris cloud. |
|
Moon Crashers
| Title |
Moon Crashers |
| Explanation |
On July 31, 1964, Ranger 7 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/database/www-nmc?64-041A ] crashed into the Moon. Seventeen minutes before [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990730.html ] impact it snapped this picture - the first image of the Moon [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/ra7_b001.html ] ever taken by a U.S. spacecraft. Of course Ranger 7 was intended to crash, transmitting close-up pictures of the lunar surface during its final moments. The Ranger program's [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/ranger.html ] goal was to begin high resolution mapping of the lunar surface in preparation for a future lunar landing [ http://www.nasm.edu/APOLLO/ ]. This first image covered 360 kilometers from top to bottom and is centered in the Mare [ http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/science/geography_items/mare.html ] Nubium (Sea of Clouds). The large crater at middle right, Alphonsus [ http://lunarprospector.arc.nasa.gov/science/ geography_items/carters/craters_a.html ], is 108 kilometers in diameter. On July 31, 1999, Lunar Prospector crashed [ http://www.lunarimpact.com/ ] into the Moon. During its successful 1 year mission to map the Moon's global properties from orbit, Lunar Prospector confirmed indications that water-ice [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/ice/ice_moon.html ] could be trapped in permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles. Its mission complete, controllers intentionally targeted [ http://science.nasa.gov/current/event/ast04jun99_2.htm ] the spacecraft to impact a crater wall, hoping that water could be more directly detected in the resulting debris cloud - although the chances of a successful detection were considered low. Astronomers [ http://www.ae.utexas.edu/~cfpl/lunar/observations.html ] analyzing the data recently announced [ http://www.ae.utexas.edu/~cfpl/lunar/pressrelease/discussion.html ] that no visible signature of water was found, so the tantalizing case for water on the Moon remains open [ http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast13oct99_1.htm ]. |
|
First Image of the Moon take
…
| Title |
First Image of the Moon taken by a U.S. Spacecraft |
| Description |
Ranger 7 took this image, the first picture of the Moon by aU.S. spacecraft, on 31 July 1964 at 13:09 UT (9:09 AM EDT)about 17 minutes before impacting the lunar surface. The area photographed is centered at 13 S, 10 W and covers about 360 km from top to bottom. The large crater at center right is the 108 km diameter Alphonsus. Above it is Ptolemaeus and below it Arzachel. The terminator is at the bottom right corner. Mare Nubium is at center and left. Nor this at about 11:00 at the center of the frame. The Ranger 7impact site is off the frame, to the left of the upper left corner. (Ranger 7, B001) The Ranger series of spacecraft were designed solely to take high-quality pictures of the Moon and transmit them back to Earth in real time. The images were to be used for scientific study, as well as selecting landing sites for the Apollo Moon missions. Ranger 7 was the first of the Ranger series to be entirely successful. It transmitted 4,308high-quality images over the last 17 minutes of flight, the final image having a resolution of 0.5 meter/pixel. Ranger 7 was launched July 28, 1964 and arrived at the Moon on July 31, 1964. |
| Date |
07.31.1964 |
|
Guericke Crater as seen by R
…
| Title |
Guericke Crater as seen by Ranger 7 |
| Description |
Ranger 7 B-camera image of Guericke crater (11.5 S, 14.1 W, diameter 63 km) taken from a distance of 1335 km. The dark flat floor of Mare Nubium dominates most of the image, which was taken 8.5 minutes before Ranger 7 impacted the Moon on 31 July 1964. The frame is about 230 km across and north is at 12:30. The impact site is off the frame to the left. (Ranger 7, B100) The Ranger series of spacecraft were designed solely to take high-quality pictures of the Moon and transmit them back to Earth in real time. The images were to be used for scientific study, as well as selecting landing sites for the Apollo Moon missions. Ranger 7 was the first of the Ranger series to be entirely successful. It transmitted 4,308high-quality images over the last 17 minutes of flight, the final image having a resolution of 0.5 meter/pixel. Ranger 7 was launched July 28, 1964 and arrived at the Moon on July 31, 1964. |
| Date |
07.31.1964 |
|
First Image of the Moon take
…
PIA02975
Earth
| Title |
First Image of the Moon taken by a U.S. Spacecraft |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Ranger 7 took this image, the first picture of the Moon by aU.S. spacecraft, on 31 July 1964 at 13:09 UT (9:09 AM EDT)about 17 minutes before impacting the lunar surface. The area photographed is centered at 13 S, 10 W and covers about 360 km from top to bottom. The large crater at center right is the 108 km diameter Alphonsus. Above it is Ptolemaeus and below it Arzachel. The terminator is at the bottom right corner. Mare Nubium is at center and left. Nor this at about 11:00 at the center of the frame. The Ranger 7impact site is off the frame, to the left of the upper left corner. (Ranger 7, B001) The Ranger series of spacecraft were designed solely to take high-quality pictures of the Moon and transmit them back to Earth in real time. The images were to be used for scientific study, as well as selecting landing sites for the Apollo Moon missions. Ranger 7 was the first of the Ranger series to be entirely successful. It transmitted 4,308high-quality images over the last 17 minutes of flight, the final image having a resolution of 0.5 meter/pixel. Ranger 7 was launched July 28, 1964 and arrived at the Moon on July 31, 1964. |
|
Guericke Crater as seen by R
…
PIA02974
Earth
| Title |
Guericke Crater as seen by Ranger 7 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Ranger 7 B-camera image of Guericke crater (11.5 S, 14.1 W, diameter 63 km) taken from a distance of 1335 km. The dark flat floor of Mare Nubium dominates most of the image, which was taken 8.5 minutes before Ranger 7 impacted the Moon on 31 July 1964. The frame is about 230 km across and north is at 12:30. The impact site is off the frame to the left. (Ranger 7, B100) The Ranger series of spacecraft were designed solely to take high-quality pictures of the Moon and transmit them back to Earth in real time. The images were to be used for scientific study, as well as selecting landing sites for the Apollo Moon missions. Ranger 7 was the first of the Ranger series to be entirely successful. It transmitted 4,308high-quality images over the last 17 minutes of flight, the final image having a resolution of 0.5 meter/pixel. Ranger 7 was launched July 28, 1964 and arrived at the Moon on July 31, 1964. |
|
Live from the Moon - Impact!
PIA03495
Earth
TV Camera
| Title |
Live from the Moon - Impact! |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
On March 24, 1965, a nationwide TV audience watched live video from Ranger 9 as it purposefully crashed into the Moon within the crater Alphonsus. Ranger's six cameras sent back more than 5800 video images during the last 18 minutes of its 3-day journey, the last of the Ranger Project. The last few images show the lunar surface in detail from a few hundred meters above. This sequence of images from Camera A was converted from video to film to laser disc to digital files. |
|
MOON SURFACE PHOTOGRAPHED BY
…
| Title |
MOON SURFACE PHOTOGRAPHED BY RANGER 9 SPACECRAFT |
|
Apollo 14 crewmen near site
…
| Title |
Apollo 14 crewmen near site of volcanic eruption on Hawaii |
| Description |
Prime crewmen and backup crewmen of the Apollo 14 mission look over an area near the site of a volcanic eruption in Aloi Alae, Hawaii. Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. (leaning with left hand on ground) and Edgar D. Mitchell (behind Shepard, wearing dark glasses) are the prime crewmen scheduled to walk on the moon. Astronauts Eugene A. Cernan (almost obscured at extreme left) and Joe H. Engle (partially visible, on Cernan's right) are back-up crew commander and lunar module pilot, respectively, for the mission. Others in the photograph are Pat Crosland (in hard hat), a geologist and a park ranger in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Michael C McEwen (facing Mitchell) of the Geology Branch, Lunar and Earth Sciences Division, Manned Spacecraft Center, and Astronaut Bruce McCandless II, who made the trip to serve as a spacecraft communicator during simulations of extravehicular activity (EVA) on the lunar surface. |
| Date Taken |
1970-04-10 |
|
|
