Ranger 5, launched October 18, 1962, was supposed to take pictures of the moon before crashing into its surface, but missed its target. Its guidance system experienced problems shortly after launch, but NASA sent commands and Ranger 5 was back on course.
Soon, the computer system detected high temperatures and then power generation from the solar panels ceased. The computer did not command the spacecraft to align with Earth and telemetry at tracking stations malfunctioned. An electrical short had disabled the solar panels, leaving Ranger 5 with a few hours of battery power. NASA made several attempts to salvage the mission, but were not successful.
On October 21, Ranger 5 passed within 724 km of the moon and entered a heliocentric orbit.
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