 | |||||||||||
| Mission type | Lunar impactor | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | NASA / JPL | ||||||||||
| Harvard designation | 1962 Beta Eta 1 | ||||||||||
| COSPAR ID | 1962-055A | ||||||||||
| SATCAT no. | 439 | ||||||||||
| Mission duration | 8 hours and 44 minutes[1] | ||||||||||
| Spacecraft properties | |||||||||||
| Manufacturer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory | ||||||||||
| Launch mass | 342.46 kg[2] | ||||||||||
| Dimensions | 1.52 m × 2.51 m (5.0 ft × 8.2 ft) | ||||||||||
| Power | 135 W | ||||||||||
| Start of mission | |||||||||||
| Launch date | October 18, 1962, 16:59:00 UTC | ||||||||||
| Rocket | Atlas LV-3 Agena-B 215D/AA7 | ||||||||||
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-12 | ||||||||||
| End of mission | |||||||||||
| Last contact | October 19, 1962, 01:43:00 UTC[1] | ||||||||||
| Orbital parameters | |||||||||||
| Reference system | Heliocentric | ||||||||||
| Eccentricity | 0.056 | ||||||||||
| Perihelion altitude | 0.9839 AU | ||||||||||
| Aphelion altitude | 1.163 AU | ||||||||||
| Inclination | 0.44° | ||||||||||
| Period | 370.22 days | ||||||||||
| Lunar flyby (failed impact) | |||||||||||
| Closest approach | October 21, 1962 | ||||||||||
| Distance | 724 kilometers (450 mi) | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Ranger 5 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight, to study radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, and to continue testing of the Ranger program for development of lunar and interplanetary spacecraft. Due to an unknown malfunction, the spacecraft ran out of power and ceased operation. It passed within 725 km of the Moon.[1]