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Explorer 2 |
Explorer 2 was the second satellite of the notable Explorer mission series that launched the United States into the Space Age, however, it did not reach the same success as its predecessor, Explorer 1. |
03/05/1958 |
Earth |
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Explorer 3 |
Explorer 3 was the third satellite of the Explorer mission series and the first successful follow-on to Explorer 1, which made history when in January 1958 it became the United States' first space satellite. |
03/26/1958 |
Earth |
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Explorer 4 |
Explorer 4 was designed to further investigate the radiation belt around Earth, discovered during the Explorer 1 and 3 missions. |
07/26/1958 |
Earth |
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Explorer 5 |
The Explorer 5 mission was the last of the original series of Explorer satellites designed, built and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. |
08/24/1958 |
Earth |
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Ranger 9 |
Ranger 9 was the last of the Ranger series of spacecraft launched in the 1960s to explore the moon and was designed to image and impact the moon's crater Alphonsus, which was thought to be the site of recent lunar volcanic activity. |
03/21/1965 |
Moon |
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Ranger 8 |
Following on the success of the Ranger 7 mission, which was the first United States spacecraft to photograph the moon up close, Ranger 8 took more than 7,000 high-resolution images of the moon before impacting the lunar surface on February 20, 1965. |
02/17/1965 |
Moon |
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Ranger 7 |
The Ranger 7 lunar lander was the first true success in the United States' early quest to explore the moon and heralded a new era of exploration that saw dramatically more mission successes than failures. |
07/28/1964 |
Moon |
|
Ranger 6 |
Ranger 6 was principally designed to transmit high-resolution photographs of the moon before impacting the lunar surface and was part of the series of nine Ranger spacecraft launched in the early 1960s to explore the moon. |
01/30/1964 |
Moon |
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Ranger 5 |
The third attempt by the United States to land a spacecraft on the moon, Ranger 5 was designed to collect data on interplanetary space, photograph the moon up close and make a rough landing on the lunar surface. |
10/18/1962 |
Moon |
|
Ranger 4 |
The Ranger 4 spacecraft, which was designed to collect data on interplanetary space, photograph the moon up close and make a rough landing on the lunar surface, was the first American spacecraft to reach another celestial body. |
04/23/1962 |
Moon |
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Ranger 1 |
Ranger 1, the first of a series of nine spacecraft launched in the early 1960s to explore the moon, was a test spacecraft built as a prelude to future lunar missions. |
08/23/1961 |
Earth |
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Ranger 3 |
Ranger 3 was NASA's first attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon. |
01/26/1962 |
Moon |
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Ranger 2 |
The second of the series of spacecraft launched by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the early 1960s to further lunar and interplanetary exploration, Ranger 2, like its predecessor, was built to test flight systems for a future lunar mission. |
11/18/1961 |
Moon |
