Feb 2 1964
From The Space Library
RANGER VI crashed onto the moon on target in the Sea of Tranquility, but its onboard camera system failed to return TV photographs of the lunar surface. Indications were that the two TV systems responded to Central Computer and Sequencer (CC&S) command to warm up, but the cameras did not complete the warm-up to picture taking. RANGER VI's cameras (two wide-angle and four narrow-angle) were to have made more than 3,000 photographs during its last 10 min. The photographs were to have provided scientific data on lunar topography and supported the Surveyor unmanned soft-landing spacecraft and Apollo manned lunar landing program. Dr. William Pickering, Director of JPL which is responsible for Ranger project management as well as its tracking and communications through Deep Space Network, said of RANGER VI: "It Was a sad finish to something that was going so good. "Our accuracy was a very significant achievement. The failure of the camera system isn't going to discourage us. I'm quite confident in our ability, and we will succeed in exploring the moon on a future shot" NASA planned three more Ranger TV flights this year. (Witkin, NYT, 2/3/64; UPI, Wash. Post, 2/3/64; AP, Wash. Post, 2/3/64)
Sir Bernard Lovell, Director of Jodrell Bank Experimental Station which tracked RANGER VI on its course to the moon, said of the spacecraft's accurate impact of the moon: "I think this represents a very great achievement for American rocket engineers. "This achievement is underlined by the fact that it is now four and a half years since either the Russians or the Americans have made a direct hit of this nature on the lunar surface, despite repeated attempts" Kenneth W. Gatland, Director of the British Interplanetary Society, referred to the failure of RANGER VI's cameras to take pictures: "I should say this is one of the most bitter disappointments of the space age so far in having come so near to success in a vital reconnaissance." He speculated that the cameras may have failed to work because the temperature caused a relay to stick or a component to fail. (AP, NYT, 2/3/64)
Tass announced ELECTRON I and ELECTRON II scientific satellites were continuing their elliptical orbits of the earth. By 6:00 p.m. Moscow time Feb. 1, ELECTRON I had passed repeatedly through the inner radiation belt in its 19 orbits and ELECTRON II had moved four times through the outer radiation belt in its two orbits. Tass said the following studies were being made with aid of onboard equipment: outer and inner radiation belts; charged particles having low energy; concentrations of electrons and positive ions; magnetic fields and radiation belts of the earth; nuclear component of cosmic radiation; short-wave solar radiation; propagation of radio waves; radio-radiation of galaxies; and densities of meteoritic material. Tass said the studies, being accomplished under a unified program in various areas of outer space, were being conducted for the first time. These studies were important for conducting the program of the IQSY and for permitting collection of data to assure radiation safety of manned space flights. Tass said all onboard equipment was functioning normally and ground stations were receiving scientific data from the satellites. (Tass, Krasnaya Zvezda, 2/2/64,1, ATSS-T Trans.)
300-ft.-high helium-filled balloon with 550-lb. instrumented payload was recovered 30 mi. west of Williamsport, N.C., after seven-hour flight from Palestine, Tex., where it was launched by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Scientists from Case Institute, which sponsored the launching, said the cosmic-ray-studying instruments performed perfectly during the flight. (Houston Chron., 2/3/64)
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