--- title: Retrotechtacular: A View Of The Moon From 1964 | daily.dev description: A look back at the Ranger spacecraft program of the 1960s, which aimed to photograph the lunar surface before crashing into it. The first five Rangers failed... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/retrotechtacular-a-view-of-the-moon-from-1964-h3q2cqoje twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Retrotechtacular: A View Of The Moon From 1964 | daily.dev og:description: A look back at the Ranger spacecraft program of the 1960s, which aimed to photograph the lunar surface before crashing into it. The first five Rangers failed... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/retrotechtacular-a-view-of-the-moon-from-1964-h3q2cqoje og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/H3Q2cQoje.png og:image:alt: Retrotechtacular: A View Of The Moon From 1964 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Retrotechtacular: A View Of The Moon From 1964 **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A look back at the Ranger spacecraft program of the 1960s, which aimed to photograph the lunar surface before crashing into it. The first five Rangers failed to reach the moon, Ranger 6 hit but couldn't activate its cameras, and Ranger 7 was the first success. A 1964 JPL film called 'Lunar Bridgehead' captures the excitement of the era, showcasing vintage tech like magnetic tape drives, teletypes, and paper tape readers. Despite crude images by modern standards, the program was a remarkable achievement that helped pave the way for the Apollo missions just five years later. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What was the NASA Ranger program and how many missions were successful? The Ranger program was a series of spacecraft designed to photograph the lunar surface before intentionally crashing into it. The first five missions failed to reach the moon, Ranger 6 reached the moon but failed to activate its cameras, and Rangers 7, 8, and 9 were successful. Ranger 8 notably landed in the Sea of Tranquility, the same region where Apollo 11's Eagle later touched down. _Space and tech history like the Ranger program surfaces regularly for curious engineers on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Fictional Moon: Reality TV And SciFi Don’t Mix](https://daily.dev/posts/fictional-moon-reality-tv-and-scifi-don-t-mix-0vnvqvymo) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Exploring the Moon will require rovers that can think for themselves – an upcoming NASA mission will test whether they can](https://daily.dev/posts/exploring-the-moon-will-require-rovers-that-can-think-for-themselves-an-upcoming-nasa-mission-will-o1x4yf3y3) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Four astronauts begin humanity’s return to the moon](https://daily.dev/posts/four-astronauts-begin-humanity-s-return-to-the-moon-tcowp1mnm) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Starship’s engine failure could slow NASA’s plan to return to the moon](https://daily.dev/posts/starship-s-engine-failure-could-slow-nasa-s-plan-to-return-to-the-moon-urwyhpbtj) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Managers on alert for “launch fever” as pressure builds for NASA’s Moon mission](https://daily.dev/posts/managers-on-alert-for-launch-fever-as-pressure-builds-for-nasa-s-moon-mission-ya9f970t6) · Ars Technica · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#nasa](https://daily.dev/tags/nasa) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/retrotechtacular-a-view-of-the-moon-from-1964-h3q2cqoje) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Retrotechtacular: A View Of The Moon From 1964","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/retrotechtacular-a-view-of-the-moon-from-1964-h3q2cqoje","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/retrotechtacular-a-view-of-the-moon-from-1964-h3q2cqoje"},"datePublished":"2026-08-10T02:13:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-10T02:14:21.628Z","description":"A look back at the Ranger spacecraft program of the 1960s, which aimed to photograph the lunar surface before crashing into it. The first five Rangers failed...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5bf5adf79fbe1112e7a4a2271c27fdd7?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5bf5adf79fbe1112e7a4a2271c27fdd7?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hackaday","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hackaday","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--JhDfhy70--/f_auto,q_auto/v1767541814/logos/hackaday","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/retrotechtacular-a-view-of-the-moon-from-1964-h3q2cqoje","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"nasa","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hackaday","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Retrotechtacular: A View Of The Moon From 1964"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/retrotechtacular-a-view-of-the-moon-from-1964-h3q2cqoje#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What was the NASA Ranger program and how many missions were successful?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Ranger program was a series of spacecraft designed to photograph the lunar surface before intentionally crashing into it. The first five missions failed to reach the moon, Ranger 6 reached the moon but failed to activate its cameras, and Rangers 7, 8, and 9 were successful. Ranger 8 notably landed in the Sea of Tranquility, the same region where Apollo 11's Eagle later touched down. Space and tech history like the Ranger program surfaces regularly for curious engineers on daily.dev."}}]} ```