Ebook: Project Ranger A Chronology

The Ranger Project was a landmark in the development of this nation's capability for flying unmanned missions to the Moon and the planets . Many of the space sciences and technologies that were later to prove so important to both soft - landed and manned lunar missions , and to the automated exploration of the near planets , were conceived and developed out of Ranger experience.

In this sense , Ranger was a pioneer effort - a fruitful and highly fertile seedbed out of which the United States thrust into deep space had many of its origins . This chronology records the principal events-- the successes and failures , the accomplishments and disappointments - of those critical years , 1957-1965