On Aug. 23, 1961, NASA launched the Ranger 1 robotic spacecraft on a precursor mission to test new technologies for later moon missions.
NASA's Ranger program had the ultimate goal of photographing and mapping the lunar surface. Ranger 1 was launched with the primary mission of testing the performance of the spacecraft's functions and parts. It also studied particles and fields around the Earth in space. While it was designed to enter a high orbit 37,000 by 684,000 miles (60,000 by 1,100,000 km), but it never made it beyond low-Earth orbit. A malfunction with the rocket caused the engine to shut down prematurely, which sent it tumbling around the Earth. On Aug. 30, it re-entered Earth's atmosphere and was incinerated.
NASA's Ranger program had the ultimate goal of photographing and mapping the lunar surface. Ranger 1 was launched with the primary mission of testing the performance of the spacecraft's functions and parts. It also studied particles and fields around the Earth in space. While it was designed to enter a high orbit 37,000 by 684,000 miles (60,000 by 1,100,000 km), but it never made it beyond low-Earth orbit. A malfunction with the rocket caused the engine to shut down prematurely, which sent it tumbling around the Earth. On Aug. 30, it re-entered Earth's atmosphere and was incinerated.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:03In 1961, NASA launched the Ranger 1 robotic spacecraft on a precursor mission to test new technologies for later moon missions.
00:10NASA's Ranger program had the ultimate goal of photographing and mapping the lunar surface.
00:15Ranger 1 was launched with the primary mission of testing the performance of the spacecraft functions and parts.
00:20It also studied particles and fields around the Earth and space.
00:23While it was designed to enter a pretty high orbit of 37,000 by 684,000 miles, it never made it that far.
00:30A malfunction with the rocket caused the engine to shut down prematurely, which sent it tumbling around in low Earth orbit.
00:35One week later, on August 30th, it re-entered Earth's atmosphere and was incinerated.
00:40And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:43NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology