PREFACE

Ranger was the first successful American project of lunar exploration. It was an enterprise sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and executed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Including authorization, design, development, and flights, the project spanned the years 1959-1965 and culminated in closeup television pictures of the moon. This project produced most of the basic management techniques, flight operating procedures, and technology for NASA's later unmanned lunar and planetary missions. It also established methods for selecting scientific experiments and integrating them with the spacecraft. The history of Ranger is thus essential to understanding the evolution and operational form of NASA's continuing program of unmanned exploration of deep space.

I have prepared this history with three particular audiences in mind: scholars concerned with the history of American science and technology; practicing managers involved in large government research and development projects; and scientists, engineers, or laymen interested in the nation's space program. I have arranged the story topically within chronological sections, and paid considerable attention in the analysis to the bureaucratic problems of science and technology as they were "pressed and resolved by individuals. I have attempted further to capture the adventure of probing the unknown and the frequent drama in the interplay of the expectations of American scientists, popular American interests in space, the satisfaction of engineering requirements, restricted budgets, human frustration, congressional impatience, and institutional tension.

In the writing of this history, William Pickering, the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, granted me full access to the JPL files and records, and allowed me complete freedom to interpret the material as I wished. The NASA History Office made available the pertinent NASA records at Headquarters in Washington, D.C. I also made extensive use of interviews, which were taped and transcribed, with virtually all of the key participants in Project Ranger. Although allowance had to be made for subjective proclivities and faded memories, sometimes in conflict with the written record, the interviews proved valuable in recapturing the excitement of tense moments. They also furnished many of the private thoughts and motives of the participants, providing color and substance otherwise missing in the written record. Finally, I asked some of these same individuals to read and comment on portions or all of the draft manuscript. Though employed at Caltech/JPL, I served functionally as a member of the NASA history program, where this "comment cycle" is typical. I found the comment cycle helpful rather than inhibiting. At no time was my freedom of interpretation infringed upon.

From the beginning I had the encouragement and unstinting assistance of the NASA History Office: NASA Historian Eugene M. Emme, Director of the History Program Monte D. Wright, Publications Manager Frank W. Anderson, and Archivist Lee D. Saegesser. At JPL, Laboratory Director Pickering and Assistant Laboratory Director Walter H. Padgham supplied the resources and patience needed to see the work completed. I am grateful to Richard K. Smith, who criticized the early chapters, and to Rodman W. Paul of the Caltech Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, who helped out in a variety of important ways. I owe a special debt to Daniel J. Kevles, also of the Caltech Humanities Division, who counseled with me throughout the work, criticized every chapter, and edited the penultimate draft of the manuscript.

In this brief space, I can only acknowledge the generous additional support I received from many other individuals and groups. Reference librarians -at the JPL and Caltech Millikan Libraries patiently answered innumerable queries, And Caltech students past and present - P. Thomas Carroll, Lee W. Vibber, and Hallie A. Poore - assisted in the research and footnoting. The following, in particular, helped with interviews, critiques of the manuscript, or both:

The artist Robert Shepard rendered the print of Ranger used for the front cover of this book, and it appears courtesy of the TRW Space Log. JPL artist Arthur Beeman furnished the print of the deep space radio antenna that appears on the back cover. All illustrations not credited otherwise are NASA/JPL figures.

Finally, heartfelt thanks are due Helena Rosen, who, over the past four years, made the manuscript a reality, typing and retyping "adjusted " chapters more times than either she or I care to remember. Needless to say, the final responsibility for this history, including its interpretations and whatever inadequacies or weaknesses it may contain, is mine alone.

R. Cargill Hall

Pasadena, California

October, 1976

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Contents            Chapter 1

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