LUNAR IMPACT

A History of Project Ranger

R. CARGILL HALL

Contents

Part I. THE ORIGINS OF RANGER

  1. THE ORIGINS OF RANGER
    1. A Moon Flight Proposal
    2. The First Lunar Flights
    3. Sky and Planetary Science
    4. From Interest to Resolve
  2. ORGANIZING THE CAMPAIGN
    1. Prospects and Suggestions
    2. Assigning Tasks to People
    3. New Mechanisms for Management
    4. Organizing for Ranger: Huntsville and the Air Force
    5. Organizing for Ranger: JPL and Headquarters
    6. Launch Vehicles: Management Problems Materialize
    7. Reorganizing for Ranger
  3. SPACE SCIENCE AND THE RANGER MACHINE
    1. A Planetary Machine for Space Science
    2. The Vega-Ranger: Where Planet and Sky Science Meet
    3. Creating the Ranger Machine
  4. RANGER’S LUNAR OBJECTIVES IN DOUBT
    1. A Difference in Weights and Measures
    2. Preparing for the Test Flights
    3. When and How to Sterilize Spacecraft
    4. Space Science and the Original Ranger Missions
  5. SUPPORTING THE FLIGHT OPERATIONS
    1. The Deep Space Network
    2. Space Flight Operations
    3. Launch Operations
  6. TEST FLIGHTS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS
    1. Planning the Ascent
    2. Preparing for Launch
    3. A Learning Experience
    4. The Second Lesson
    5. The Aftermath
  7. A NEW NATIONAL GOAL
    1. Man on the Moon
    2. Rangers for Apollo
    3. The New Order
  8. THE QUESTION OF SCIENCE AND RANGER
    1. Lunar Spacecraft Development: Sterilization in Practice
    2. After the Apollo Decision: What Science and Where?
    3. Science Reasserted in Project Ranger
    4. Modifying Ranger for More Space Science
  9. LUNAR EXPLORATION BEGUN
    1. Preparing to Go
    2. A First Chance at the Moon
    3. Reflections on a Near Miss
    4. Another Chance
  10. WHICH WAY RANGER?
    1. Family Relations
    2. NASA's Lunar Objectives Reconsidered
    3. One More Time
  11. IN THE COLD LIGHT OF DAWN
    1. The Ranger Inquiry at JPL
    2. The Kelley Board Investigation
    3. New Management and New Objectives
    4. Space Science Against the Wall

Part II. THE NEW RANGER

  1. HOMESTRETCH ENGINEERING
    1. Redesigning for Improved Reliability
    2. Launch Vehicles Revisited
    3. Requalifying Ranger: Progress and Problems
  2. SPACE SCIENCE: A NEW ERA AND HARD TIMES
    1. Guaranteeing Support to Project Apollo
    2. Planning in the Face of Change
    3. Making a Case for More Rangers
    4. Lunar Orbiter and Congress Intervene
  3. MORE MISSIONS FOR SCIENCE?
    1. Block V Underway
    2. Nonvisual Science: All or Nothing at All
  4. SIX TO THE MOON
    1. Organizing Visual Science for Ranger Block III
    2. Ready to Go
    3. The Flight of Ranger
  5. THE WORST OF TIMES
    1. The Ranger 6 Inquiry at JPL
    2. The NASA Inquiry: Disparate Findings
    3. A Public Accounting
    4. Action and Reaction
    5. Congress Investigates Ranger
  6. RANGER 7: A CRASHING SUCCESS
    1. Reworking Ranger 7
    2. On the Trail of Ranger 6
    3. Preparing to Go Again
    4. The Flight of Ranger 7
  7. KUDOS AND QUESTIONS
    1. Jubilant Days
    2. New Interest in a New Era
    3. Hard Questions for Space Science
  8. THE RANGER LEGACY
    1. One More for Apollo
    2. The Last One for Science
    3. Ranger: An Analysis
    4. The Ranger Legacy

APPENDIXES

  1. LUNAR THEORY BEFORE 1964
  2. LUNAR MISSIONS 1958 THROUGH 1965
  3. SPACECRAFT TECHNICAL DETAILS
  4. RANGER EXPERIMENTS
  5. BLOCK III VISUAL SCIENCE: MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT
  6. RANGER SCHEDULE HISTORY
  7. RANGER FINANCIAL HISTORY
  8. RANGER PERFORMANCE HISTORY
  9. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS