Ranger

The Ranger program was a US series of robotic space missions by from 1959 until 24 March 1965 to obtain close-up images of the surface of the Moon.

The first attempt to launch the ranger 1 probe was on the 23rd August 1961. Sadly all ending in  failures until the partial success 30 January 1964 of Ranger 6 that successfully hit the Moon on 2nd February 1964.  It struck the eastern edge of the Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) at 09:24:32 GMT but its camera system failed due to a lack of power.

 Ranger 7-9 all successfully impacted the Moon sending back pictures close to the point of impact.