On this day in space! April 23, 1962: Ranger 4 launches on failed moon mission

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On April 23, 1962, NASA launched the Ranger 4 mission to the moon. After the first three Ranger missions failed, NASA was really happy with the successful launch of Ranger 4. But the fun didn't last long.

On April 23, 1962, NASA launched the Ranger 4 mission to the moon. After the first three Ranger missions failed, NASA was really happy with the successful launch of Ranger 4. But the fun didn't last long.

Russia's Saylut 1, the world's first space station, is seen during preparations for its April 19, 1971 launch in this undated photo from the Russian space agency Roscosmos. (Image credit: NASA)

When they tried to send commands to its on-board computers, they got no response. They could tell from fluctuations in the radio signal that Ranger 4 had not stabilized itself like it was supposed to. Instead, it was tumbling around in space with its solar panels still tucked into its sides.

While the mission was essentially a failure at that point, Ranger 4 did become the first American spacecraft to reach the moon. It crashed into the moon's far side three days after the launch.

On This Day in Space: See our full 365-day video archive!

Hanneke Weitering
Hanneke Weitering
Contributing expert

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos. 

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