Ranger 5
Ranger 5 was NASA's third Block II attempt to impact the Moon, carrying a television imaging system, gamma-ray spectrometer and seismometer capsule. A power-system malfunction shortly after its October 18, 1962 launch exhausted its battery before a course correction could be made. The spacecraft missed the Moon on October 21 and entered solar orbit, although its gamma-ray experiment returned about four hours of data.
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Identity
- Aliases
- Ranger 5Ranger VRanger 5 Lunar Impact Probe
- Name
- Ranger 5
- Status
- failed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- Ranger 5 was NASA's third Block II attempt to impact the Moon, carrying a television imaging system, gamma-ray spectrometer and seismometer capsule. A power-system malfunction shortly after its October 18, 1962 launch exhausted its battery before a course correction could be made. The spacecraft missed the Moon on October 21 and entered solar orbit, although its gamma-ray experiment returned about four hours of data.
- Destination
- Failed lunar impact; battery depletion left Ranger 5 to pass the Moon by approximately 724 km and enter heliocentric orbit
- End Date
- 1962-10-21
- Outcome
- The lunar-impact and surface-science objectives were not achieved. A limited interplanetary gamma-ray dataset was returned before power was lost.
- Programs
- Start Date
- 1962-10-18
- Vehicle Families
Links
- Official Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/ranger-5/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 14, 2026 at 17:19:07 UTC
- Updated Time
- October 17, 2026 at 14:01:54 UTC
Other
- Affiliations
- -
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles