63. [Ranger VII] FIRST LUNAR IMPACT: captured by the first spacecraft to photograph another world up close NASA, 31 July 1964 Printed 1964. Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper [NASA image 64-H-2189]. With NASA caption numbered "64-H-2189" on the reverse (issued by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.). 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.) Historical context NASA's lunar assault began with a spectacular breakthrough: the "crashlander" Ranger VII was the first space probe to send close-up pictures of the Moon before it impacted the lunar surface. This historic final photograph was transmitted by the F-A camera and its 25mm, f/1 lens some 2.3 seconds before Ranger VII's impact on the lunar surface, from an altitude of about three miles. The image achieved an incredible resolution of 0.5 meters, with the smallest craters visible measuring approximately 30 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep. The spacecraft was destroyed during transmission, resulting in the receiver noise pattern. Ranger VII photographed its way down to its target in a lunar plain named Mare Cognitum (the Known Sea). The landing site was south of the Crater Copernicus, at latitude 10.35°S and longitude 20.58°W. The probe sent pictures from six cameras to waiting scientists, engineers, and astronomers, who "were delighted at the clarity of the images which confirmed that there were lunar areas topographically suitable for manned landing sites" (Cortright, p. 46). The Ranger VII lunar lander was the first true success in the United States' early quest to explore the Moon. It heralded a new era of exploration, one that saw dramatically more mission successes than failures. The images, which showed the lunar surface in stunning detail, were a harbinger of future human exploration of the Moon.