The Space Race was a technological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in demonstrating superiority in aerospace capabilities, including artificial satellites launches, robotic space probes to the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and ultimately landing on the Moon. This blog features my collection of US and Soviet Union space events on covers and press photos.
1962-10-18 USA Ranger 5
A solar cell on Ranger 5 failed shortly after its launch on October 18, 1962. Without power, engineers on the ground lost the ability to control the spacecraft, causing it to miss the moon by 720 kilometers (450 miles).
