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Ranger 8 Image Taken 2 Seconds Before Impact

Image of the surface of the moon
Image Credit: NASA
Published: July 9, 2018
Historical Date: February 20, 1965

Last image taken by Ranger 8 camera-A from a distance of 4.2 km, 2 seconds before impact on 20 February 1965. The area shown is at 2.7 N, 24.55 E and the image is about 1.4 km across. The right side of the image is missing because Ranger 8 crashed before completing transmission. This area is about 60 km from the Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquillity. These Ranger close-ups showed for the first time that even areas on the Moon which looked smooth from Earth were peppered with small impact craters. North is up. (Ranger 8, A060)

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