Mission Description
Launch: February 17, 1965
Impacted Moon: February 20, 1965, at 09:57:37 UT
Landing Site: Mare Tranquillitatis, 2.67°N lat., 24.65°E long.The prime objective of the mission, to obtain high-resolution photographs of Mare Tranquillitatis, was met. During the 23 minutes the cameras operated before impact, a large swath of the Moon was photographed at high resolution for the first time. Excellent photographs of Delambre Crater, the southern shoreline of Mare Tranquillitatis, and the crater pair Ritter and Sabine were obtained. The last picture was taken 0.09 seconds before impact from an altitude of approximately 160 meters. The impact point was less than 20 kilometers from the selected point.
Selection of the Target Site
The basic objective in selecting the Ranger 8 target was to choose an area which, in conjunction with the Ranger 7 photographs, would be the most useful in increasing the knowledge of the lunar maria. Taking into consideration Apollo constraints, a point near the equator and 15° from the terminator was chosen.