३१ जुलै, २०१४

50 years ago today: "Ranger 7 radioed to earth... the first close-up pictures of the moon..."

"... a historic collection of 4,000 pictures one thousand times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes...."
The still pictures were snapped and transmitted in the last 17 minutes before the spacecraft crashed into an area northwest of the Sea of Clouds.

They meant in effect that the 240,000 mile distance to the moon had been shrunk by man's ingenuity to a mere half-mile in terms of what he could see of its topography.

९ टिप्पण्या:

HoodlumDoodlum म्हणाले...

See, that's nice and all, but how diverse was NASA at the time--how many women, how many minorities? I just don't think NASA was making an effort to reach out to Muslims and make Muslim nations feel good about their contributions to science and math. Obviously that should be the agency's highest priority. So, really, can we be proud of these "accomplishments?"

bgates म्हणाले...

A proud day for Muslims everywhere.

Gahrie म्हणाले...

If I was elected president, the first thing I would do is appoint Elon Musk as the director of NASA, and tell him to bring it into the 21st century, and return it to being a space exploration agency instead of a massive jobs program.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Thanks for the link. Great photos.

Michael McNeil म्हणाले...

Watching Ranger 7 crash on the Moon live in 1964 had a powerful impact on me as a teenager.

Smilin' Jack म्हणाले...

Wow, that flick is a real nail-biter.

Biff म्हणाले...

They don't make narrators like they used to.

HoodlumDoodlum म्हणाले...

Sincerely, though, thank you for sharing the link Prof. A.

It is right and good to look back on what our nation accomplished to the benefit of all mankind. Scientific advancement is what has driven human progress and it's easy to let one's cynicism about the use of "science" in the modern politial realm to obscure the awesome feats we've accomplished.

Smilin' Jack म्हणाले...

They totally stole the ending from "The Sopranos," though.