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A series of nine American lunar probes, launched between 1961 and 1965. Only the last three, Rangers 7, 8 and 9, were successful. Ranger 7, launched in July 1964, returned 4,000 images. Thousands more were obtained with Rangers 8 and 9, launched in February and March 1965. They were "hard landers", designed to transmit images during approach to the Moon until they crash-landed. The three successful Rangers landed successively in the Fra Mauro region, the Mare Tranquillitatis and the crater Alphonsus.
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