Ranger Program

NASA's Ranger Program was a managed nine-mission series of lunar probes designed to relay close-range photographs and data before impacting the Moon. The three successful Block III missions, Ranger 7, 8, and 9, returned progressively higher-resolution imagery that supported lunar science and Apollo site planning. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed the mission design and operations for NASA.

Identity

Aliases: Ranger ProjectNASA Ranger ProgramRanger lunar probe program
Domains: spaceflight
Name: Ranger Program
Status: completed

Details

Description: NASA's Ranger Program was a managed nine-mission series of lunar probes designed to relay close-range photographs and data before impacting the Moon. The three successful Block III missions, Ranger 7, 8, and 9, returned progressively higher-resolution imagery that supported lunar science and Apollo site planning. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed the mission design and operations for NASA.
End Date: 1965
Start Date: 1959

Assets & Meta

Creation Time: July 30, 2026 at 20:43:34 UTC
Updated Time: July 30, 2026 at 20:43:34 UTC

Other

Leads
Official Urls: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lunar-rangers-and-surveyors/https://science.nasa.gov/mission/ranger-9/https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/ranger.html
Participants
Types: explorationresearchdevelopment