1964: Ranger 7 begins transmitting the first high-resolution video of the lunar topography back to Earth only minutes before crashing into the moon's surface.
Ranger 7 was designed by NASA for a one-way trip to the moon and the high-velocity impact was the intended grand finale. But the craft's mission was to send back as many video close-ups of the lunar surface as possible before its destruction and in this it succeeded brilliantly.
For that purpose, Ranger 7 was equipped with six slow-scan television cameras, an optical sensor, a high-gain communications antenna and solar panels to provide power. The cameras were calibrated to overlap each other to pick up as wide a field of vision as possible and the images were reconstructed back on Earth and transferred to 35mm film.
Ranger 7 began transmitting its high-res pictures 17 minutes and 13 seconds before impact and the last picture was sent off less than a second before the craft hit the lunar surface at a speed of 1.62 miles per second. The crash site is located at Latitude 10.70 S and Longitude 339.33 E, near the Mare Cognitum.
Two more Ranger missions followed within the year, providing additional topographical imaging from other parts of the lunar surface. The images sent back proved invaluable for the upcoming Surveyor and Apollo projects.
(Source: NASA, National Space Science Data Center)
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