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Atlas Agena B | Ranger 4

Ranger 4

Launch Successful

Launch Details

Date: 23 Apr 1962, 08:50 pm UTC

Rocket: Atlas Agena B (Atlas)

Provider: United States Air Force

Mission

Type: Lunar Exploration

Orbit: Lunar Impactor

Pad: Launch Complex 12, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Mission Description

Ranger 4 was a spacecraft designed to softly impact the lunar surface. Its solar panels were never extended and its sun and earth acquisition system was not initiated due to a failure of a timer in its central computer. It impacted the far side of the Moon on April 26 after 64 hours of flight.