Jan 26 1962
From The Space Library
RANGER III was launched from AMR; excessive acceleration by the Atlas 1st-stage booster caused the 727-lb. payload to pass 22,862 miles in front of the moon on January 28 instead of impacting as had been planned. Failure of a high-gain antenna to home on the earth rendered signals too weak to provide usable television photographs from the ones RANGER took of the moon as it passed it. RANGER III went into orbit around the sun. The flight proved out many of the systems within the payload, including the mid-flight guidance mechanism.
During hearings of the Joint Senate and House Economic Committee, Senator Paul H. Douglas stated that "the public has never really had a chance to consider" the space program and that, one third of the members of the American Astronautical Society had indicated in a, poll that "a man landing on the moon was not desirable." Budget Director David E. Bell stoutly defended the space program. Senator Sparkman questioned Senator Douglas: "I wonder whether Congress felt the same wax when it put up money for Samuel Morse to develop the telegraph.
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