Ranger 1
Ranger 1, the first of a series of nine spacecraft launched
in the early 1960s to explore the moon, was a test spacecraft built as a
prelude to future lunar missions. It was designed to make a highly elliptical
Earth orbit and carried several science instruments for studying cosmic rays,
magnetic fields and energetic particles.
During launch, a rocket malfunction caused the spacecraft to
get stranded in low-Earth orbit, and one week after launch, it burned up upon
re-entering Earth's atmosphere.
The first successful of the series was Ranger 7 in 1964.
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