Idaho Skies Transcript for July 30th and 31st

RACHEL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for July 30th and 31st. We’re your hosts, Rachel...


PAUL
...and Paul.


RACHEL
Until 1964, the best pictures of the moon where only available through a telescope.


PAUL
Theoretically, the larger a telescope’s lens or mirror diameter, the smaller the details it can make out.


RACHEL
Unfortunately, atmospheric turbulence blurs the details a telescope can ultimately resolve. 


PAUL
And this turbulence limits the resolution of these images of the lunar surface to about one mile.


RACHEL
Recall that three years earlier, President Kennedy announced that we’d land a man on the moon within the decade.


PAUL
Which is difficult if you only know the lunar surface at the scale of one mile.


RACHEL
The way to fix this is to send a spacecraft to the moon and take close up pictures.


PAUL
Which was more easily said than done in the early 1960s.


RACHEL
Because at this time, numerous spacecraft were failing to even reach Earth orbit, let alone the moon.


PAUL
With that in mind, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory designed the Ranger program.


RACHEL
The Ranger series were spacecraft that only needed to get to the moon to be successful.


PAUL
Their mission was simple, just crash into the moon with several a television cameras operating.


RACHEL
Still, the first six attempts failed to either reach Earth orbit, the moon, or even transmit.


PAUL
As a result, people began to question JPL’s ability to even design a successful spacecraft.


RACHEL
But finally, on July 31st, 1964, the seventh Ranger reached the moon and returned close up images of its surface.


PAUL
In fact, it returned over 4,000 images during its 17 minutes moon dive.


RACHEL
And the last one could see details as small as 15 inches across.
 
PAUL
At the end of its 17 minute mission, Ranger 7 crashed into the lunar surface at a speed of 5,800 miles per hour.


RACHEL
So 54 years ago this week, the US accomplished one of its significant space firsts against our race with the Soviet Union.


PAUL
One that helped heal the sting caused the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik 1 six and a half years earlier.


RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 30th and 31st of July.


PAUL
Be sure to read our blog for additional information. It’s at idahoskies.blogspot.com


For Idaho Skies this is Paul...


RACHEL
...and Rachel.


PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.