Launched in the mid-1960s, the Ranger fleet of spacecraft provided live television transmissions of the moon from lunar orbit for the first time. These transmissions showed surface features as small as 10 inches across and provided more than 17,000 images of the lunar surface.
Launched in the mid-1960s, the Ranger fleet of spacecraft provided live television transmissions of the moon from lunar orbit for the first time. These transmissions showed surface features as small as 10 inches across and provided more than 17,000 images of the lunar surface. The detailed photographs allowed scientists and engineers to study the moon in greater detail than ever before, paving the way for the Apollo landings.Image Credit: NASA