Ranger 8 - Sixty Years On

Sixty years ago, on 17 February 1965, an Atlas LV-3 Agena B rocket sent Ranger 8 into space from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station's Launch Complex 12.

NASA's Ranger program, a mission involving 9 probes, aimed at capturing high-resolution lunar images before impact.

The goal was to take detailed images of the lunar surface to aid in planning the Apollo missions.

Ranger 8 transmitted 7,137 images to Earth before a controlled crash in the Sea of Tranquility lunar region on February 20, 1965.

The selection of landing sites for subsequent Apollo missions, including Apollo 11, depended on the provided images.