The crew of Apollo 11 have been preceded by
15 unmanned lunar explorers.
These first close-up photographs were recorded by a Ranger spacecraft, just before it slammed
into the moon surface.
Following Ranger, Surveyor: a craft which soft landed and verified that a man could walk there.
Charting and mapping of mountains, craters
and other surface features was the job of
Lunar Orbiter. This high-flying picture-taker
helped determine the best landing sites for
the Apollo astronauts.
