1964: Ranger 7 photographs Moon

Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, takes the first close-up images of the Moon--4,308 in total--before it impacts with the lunar surface northwest of the Sea of the Clouds. The images were 1,000 times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had attempted a similar mission earlier in the year--Ranger 6--but its cameras had failed as the probe descended to the lunar surface. Ranger 7, launched from Earth on July 28, successfully activated its cameras 17 minutes, or 1,300 miles, before impact, and began beaming the images back to NASA's receiving station in California. The pictures showed that the lunar surface was not excessively dusty or otherwise treacherous to a potential spacecraft landing, thus lending encouragement to the NASA plan to send astronauts to the Moon. In July 1969, two Americans walked on the Moon in the first Apollo Program lunar landing mission.