Ranger 8 to the Moon!

It's the anniversary of the launch of Ranger 8 (1965), which
among other triumphs like being a Ranger satellite that actually worked
also impacted in the Sea of Tranquility which would get to be so famous
later on.

So my mind wonders: what's the best way to learn about the
various unmanned probes to the Moon which served such useful guides to
the eventual Apollo landings? nasa.gov has, for example, a positively
dangerous-to-print-out-and-let-fall-on-your-foot book on Project Ranger
alone, but there was a lot being launched, sometimes successfully, in
those days.

--
Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the anniversary of the launch of Ranger 8 (1965), which
among other triumphs like being a Ranger satellite that actually worked
also impacted in the Sea of Tranquility which would get to be so famous
later on.

So my mind wonders: what's the best way to learn about the
various unmanned probes to the Moon which served such useful guides to
the eventual Apollo landings? nasa.gov has, for example, a positively
dangerous-to-print-out-and-let-fall-on-your-foot book on Project Ranger
alone, but there was a lot being launched, sometimes successfully, in
those days.

Funny you should ask... I've been meaning to write in this NG about a
relatively new book that I read recently on just this topic: "The
International Atlas of Lunar Exploration" by Philip J. Stooke (Cambridge
University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-81930-5, 440 pages). The atlas is in
chronological order with manned and unmanned flights from Thor-Able 1 to the
present, with many maps created just for the book. It has hundreds of
illustrations, all in B&W. I've been reading it off and on for 2 months now
and I'm learning stuff I never knew before. There's not so much about the
vehicles themselves, but there a wealth of detail about the results of each
flight.

I even wrote Professor Stooke about a plastic lunar relief map that I
received as a gift in the 1960's and he replied promptly. His college has
samples of the map and he was able to tell me all about it. He also told me
that he is currently working on a companion volume for Mars.

The only downside about the book is the price: $200 list ($145 at Amazon)!
Lucky for me, I have a VERY understanding sister who gave it to me for
Christmas!

On 17 Feb 2009 15:00:05 -0500, (Joseph Nebus) wrote:

It's the anniversary of the launch of Ranger 8 (1965),

How long did it take to reach the parking orbit? The Wikipedia
article says 0 minutes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_8
--
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On 17 Feb 2009 15:00:05 -0500, (Joseph Nebus) wrote:

It's the anniversary of the launch of Ranger 8 (1965), which
among other triumphs like being a Ranger satellite that actually worked
also impacted in the Sea of Tranquility which would get to be so famous
later on.

I saw the end of the Ranger 8 and 9 missions live on TV (I believe
those were the two). They were at elementary school, and a portent of
things to come, one teacher didn't believe that it was real because
"how could they get the pictures back?"
--
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On Feb 17, 11:27�pm, Jud McCranie
wrote:
On 17 Feb 2009 15:00:05 -0500, (Joseph Nebus) wrote:

� �It's the anniversary of the launch of Ranger 8 (1965), which
among other triumphs like being a Ranger satellite that actually worked
also impacted in the Sea of Tranquility which would get to be so famous
later on. �

I saw the end of the Ranger 8 and 9 missions live on TV (I believe
those were the two). �They were at elementary school, and a portent of
things to come, one teacher didn't believe that it was real because
"how could they get the pictures back?"
--
Replace you know what by j to email

wouldnt it be awseome to send a rover to some of those landing and
crash sites?

wonder how hard it would be to find apollo 11s LM upper stage which
must of crashed on the moon.

if you could get a piece back as a collector item wonder what it would
sell for?

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:39:39 -0800 (PST), bob haller
wrote:

wouldnt it be awseome to send a rover to some of those landing and
crash sites?

It was really exciting watching it on live TV. There were these hums
from the spacecraft, and as it got closer, the images started changing
faster and faster. Then it suddenly ended.
--
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On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:39:39 -0800 (PST), bob haller
wrote:

wonder how hard it would be to find apollo 11s LM upper stage which
must of crashed on the moon.

According to Wikipedia, it is not known where it crashed. The orbits
of ascent stages decayed before too long. What makes them decay - the
pull of the Sun?
--
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Jud McCranie wrote:
According to Wikipedia, it is not known where it crashed. The
orbits of ascent stages decayed before too long. What makes them
decay - the pull of the Sun?

From what I've learned by following the group I think there is an
issue with orbit stability based on differing mass concentrations
(mascons?) on the moon that will ultimately cause something to
spiral-in unless active measures are taken.

Wikipedia seems to have a page for it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascon

I guess if the Apollo Wikipedia page(s) don't have a link that would
be an opportunity for some "outreach" on someone's part.

rick jones
--
I don't interest myself in "why." I think more often in terms of
"when," sometimes "where;" always "how much." - Joubert
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

On Feb 20, 9:21�pm, Rick Jones wrote:
Jud McCranie wrote:
According to Wikipedia, it is not known where it crashed. �The
orbits of ascent stages decayed before too long. �What makes them
decay - the pull of the Sun?

From what I've learned by following the group I think there is an
issue with orbit stability based on differing mass concentrations
(mascons?) on the moon that will ultimately cause something to
spiral-in unless active measures are taken.

Wikipedia seems to have a page for it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascon

I guess if the Apollo Wikipedia page(s) don't have a link that would
be an opportunity for some "outreach" on someone's part.

rick jones
--
I don't interest myself in "why." I think more often in terms of
"when," sometimes "where;" always "how much." �- Joubert
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

truly sad a effort wasnt made to take the upper stage along on the way
back to earth, then send it into heliospheric orbit.

the service module was way oversized it could of been done, although
it would of added some additional workload for the astronauts bbut
what a wonderful artifact for retrieval some day

In sci.space.history message , Sat, 21
Feb 2009 02:21:10, Rick Jones posted:
From what I've learned by following the group I think there is an
issue with orbit stability based on differing mass concentrations
(mascons?) on the moon that will ultimately cause something to
spiral-in unless active measures are taken.

Spiralling in is not physically reasonable. The orbit will always be
close to elliptical, but will mutate until it intersects the surface.

That reminds me; I once saw an HP printer brochure with power
consumption given in watts per hour.

--
(c) John Stockton, near London.
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQish topics, acronyms, & links.
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