1960s NASA program to soft-land robotic probes on the Moon
Surveyor program
Surveyor 3 resting on the surface of the Moon, taken by Apollo 12 astronauts
Program overview
Country
United States
Organization
NASA
Purpose
Demonstrate soft landing on the Moon
Status
Completed
Program history
Cost
US$469 million
First flight
May 30–June 2, 1966
Last flight
January 7–10, 1968
Successes
5
Failures
2
Launch site(s)
Cape Canaveral LC-36
Vehicle information
Launch vehicle(s)
Atlas-Centaur
The Surveyor program was a NASA program that, from June 1966 through January 1968, sent seven robotic spacecraft to the surface of the Moon. Its primary goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of soft landings on the Moon. The Surveyor craft were the first American spacecraft to achieve soft landing on an extraterrestrial body. The missions called for the craft to travel directly to the Moon on an impact trajectory, a journey that lasted 63 to 65 hours, and ended with a deceleration of just over three minutes to a soft landing.[1]
The program was implemented by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to prepare for the Apollo program, and started in 1960. JPL selected Hughes Aircraft in 1961 to develop the spacecraft system.[1] The total cost of the Surveyor program was officially $469 million.
Five of the Surveyor craft successfully soft-landed on the Moon, including the first one. The other two failed: Surveyor 2 crashed at high velocity after a failed mid-course correction, and Surveyor 4 lost contact (possibly exploding) 2.5 minutes before its scheduled touch-down.
All seven spacecraft are still on the Moon; none of the missions included returning them to Earth. Some parts of Surveyor 3 were returned to Earth by the crew of Apollo 12, which landed near it in 1969. The camera from this craft is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.[2]
^ abKloman (1972). "NASA Unmanned Space Project Management - Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter" (PDF). NASA SP-4901.
^https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1967-035A – 24 January 2020
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