RANGER 7 (launched on July 28, 1964): set of 9 photos - Lot 51

RANGER 7 (launched on July 28, 1964): set of 9 photos -1 photo showing 3 technicians working on the probe (photo uncaptioned). -1 photo showing the type of “vidicon” television tubes that photographed the Moon. There was one tube in each of Ranger 7’s 6 cameras, which captured 4,316 historic close-ups of the lunar surface (captioned photo No. 64-H-2820). -7 drawings of the Ranger 7 probe showing the different phases of the mission (only 1 photo, captioned No. P-3328A). The Ranger program was designed to take precise images of the Moon and gather information on the composition of the lunar surface. Nine Ranger probes were launched aboard an Atlas-Agena B rocket between August 23, 1961, and March 24, 1965. They were produced by JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (California). After several failures with Ranger 1 through Ranger 6, the program became a success starting with Ranger 7. All photos are vintage black-and-white silver gelatin prints, measuring 20.5 x 25.5 cm, sourced either from JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) or from NASA.