April 26, 1962: Ranger 4 Crashes Into Moon

 

The US Space Program had several rocky moments in its early years, and so it was with Ranger 4.  Launched on April 23, 1962, its trip to the Moon was flawless.  After entering a lunar orbit,  a malfunction caused telemetry to cease, and the capsule to become unresponsive to commands. Ranger 4 crashed into the darkside of the Moon on April 26, 1962.  And thus the first American spacecraft reached a celestial object.  As always, NASA learned from the failure, with a successful lunar mission by Ranger 7 in 194.