Feb 20 1965
From The Space Library
RANGER VIII lunar photography probe struck its target on the moon at 4:57:36.8 EST, after radioing to earth about 7,000 close-up pictures of the lunar surface during the last 23 min, of flight. The point of impact was 2.59° north latitude, 24.77° east longitude, in the Sea of Tranquillity, an area slightly east-northeast of the center of a full moon. The spacecraft impacted at slightly less than 6,000 mph. Total distance of travel along its trajectory from lift-off had been calculated as 248,766 mi. Accuracy of the shot was reflected in the fact that impact had been planned for 4:57:30, and at 3° north latitude and 24° east longitude. RANGER VIII had been programed to execute a "terminal sequence" just before impact to point the six TV cameras more in the direction of flight; this sequence was omitted to allow the cameras to cover a larger area than planned and to provide greater continuity with the pictures transmitted by RANGER VII last July 31. A second change in the flight was to turn on cameras 23 min. before impact instead of 13 min. and 40 sec. as planned. The new time had been chosen so that initial pictures would be about equal to earth-based resolution and then continue into impact. Two small anomalies: one part of the spacecraft had registered a higher temperature than had been anticipated and more telemetry data had been lost during midcourse maneuver than had been expected. RANGER VIII had been launched Feb. 17 from Cape Kennedy. (NASA Transcript; Appel, NYT, 2/21/65, 1, 65)
Dr. Gerard P. Kuiper of the Univ. of Arizona, heading the panel for scientific evaluation of RANGER VIII photographs, said at a press conference that one of the most important results of this flight had been the discovery that the Sea of Clouds and the Sea of Tranquillity were similar in structure. He noted several "odd depressed regions" and said that they could be areas where collapse had occurred, which might suggest the presence of lava fields. He believed the lunar surface was composed of very light, frothy material such as would be formed when rock was melted and allowed to resolidify within a high vacuum, like that on the moon. The material envisioned by Dr. Kuiper might be considered similar to certain volcanic rocks found on earth: while it would probably be lighter than water, it could still have substantial strength. This theory was based on laboratory attempts several years ago to simulate conditions existing when the moon was formed. Ewen A. Whitaker of the Univ. of Arizona said he felt the lunar material, which he thought had a consistency of crunchy snow, would support a manned spacecraft. He said color lines and sharp boundaries tended to show that the surface was some sort of frothy, lava-like material and definitely not dust. Another member of the Panel, Dr. Harold C. Urey, of the Univ. of California, noted dimples on the moon's surface and said their curved walls indicated material must have been thrown out of their centers when comparatively soft terrain was gouged by heavy masses of rock. He thought he saw spots in the center of some dimples into which soft material might be draining and estimated the depth of some dimples at 50 to 60 ft, Dr. Urey also suggested the surface material might have the consistency of crunchy snow. (NASA Transcript; Appel. NYT, 2 /21/65 ; Miles, L. A. Times, 2/21 /65 ; AP, Indianapolis Star, 2/22 /65 )
No evidence of lunar origin had been found in rock samples from western Iowa tested at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, said Donald E. Perry, GSFC Information officer: "We had not . . found anything in Iowa which could be identified as meteoritic or of the nature of a tektite." NASA had requested a six-county area of western Iowa to submit rocks for analysis since GSFC astronomer, Dr. Walter O'Keefe, had had the theory that tektites came from the moon. Western Iowa had been chosen as a likely spot for the search for tektite fragments because of its heavy deposits of loose soil and near absence of natural rock formations. (Barton, Omaha Sunday World Herald, 2/21/65)
Sir John Eccles, professor of physiology at Australian National University, cautioned Australia and New Zealand against over-concentration of scientific energy on space. At a scientific congress in New Zealand, he warned: ". . . we are spending too much of our resources, especially our intellectual resources, on the exploration of space when we have the much more important problem of life, and of man and his brain." (NYT, 2/21/65, 9)
The Soviet Union was considering sending weather observers into outer space in manned meteorological satellites, Prof. K. I. Kondratief, Univ. of Leningrad, said at a meeting in Geneva of the World Meteorological Organization's Scientific Advisory Committee. (NYT, 2/21/65, 24)
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