The Explorers' Club, № MLXXIII

Operation AXIOM: Destination Moon—The 60th Anniversary of Ranger 8
17-20 February 1965: Ranger 8 lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Agena rocket, tasked to photograph & then impact the Lunar surface; the midcourse correction burn was successful; all six television cameras functioned perfectly & returned 7,137 photographs of the Moon for twenty-three minutes until Ranger 8 crashed into the Mare Tranquillitatis.

Commentary: Ranger 8 was the second consecutive success of the Ranger program. Ranger 8's impact crater was photographed by Lunar Orbiter 4 in 1967.

Ex Luna, scientia.