The Ranger 3 robotic spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The Ranger 3 could have made history as the first US spacecraft to land on the Moon, but a number of malfunctions caused the spacecraft to miss the Moon by 22,000 miles (35,000 km). While part of the mission’s goal was to crash onto the Moon, it was also meant to transmit photographs of the Moon’s surface back to Earth in its final 10 minutes before impact.