First Time Visit to Kennedy Space Center

Apollo 12 Visits Surveyor III

When the Surveyor Program was designed, there was no plan for these spacecraft to be visited by any of the Apollo astronauts. However, in the final planning stages of Apollo 12, landing near the the Surveyor III site was included in the mission plan.

Surveyor

Thirty-one months after Surveyor 3 landed, the crew of Apollo 12 photographed the spacecraft and its landing site, then removed and brought back a number of selected components from the explorer. These parts, which included the television camera, were analyzed to determine the effects on the hardware of the long exposure to the lunar environment.

Engineering studies of the television camera show that the complex electromechanical components, optics, and solid-state electronics were remarkably resistant to the severe lunar surface environment over 32 lunar day / night cycles with their extremes of temperature and long exposure to solar and cosmic radiation. These results indicate that the state of technology was capable of producing reliable hardware that makes feasible long-life lunar and planetary installations.

Although space probes have returned to Earth since Apollo 12, this remains the only occasion in which humans have visited a probe sent to another world.


 

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NASA PHOTO: Above photo is of Surveyor 3 taken by Astronaut Alan Bean on the moon during the Apollo 12 lunar exploration.

Surveyor Program

The Surveyor program was planned to achieve soft landings on the Moon by automated spacecraft capable of transmitting scientific and engineering measurements from the lunar surface. The program had three major objectives:

  • Develop and validate the technology for landing softly on the Moon

  • Provide data on the compatibility of the Apollo manned lunar-landing spacecraft design with conditions to be encountered on the lunar surface, and

  • Add to our scientific knowledge of the Moon. All of these objectives were achieved to a degree far beyond original expectations.

Four Surveyor spacecraft landed in the Lunar Maria, near the equator. These sites were selected primarily because they were being considered for Apollo manned lunar landings. Surveyor 3 Pad

NASA PHOTO: Surveyor III footpad photographed on the Apollo 12 mission.

Surveyor 1

Surveyor I

The first U.S. spacecraft to land softly on the Moon, returned a large quantity of scientific data during its first 2 lunar days of operation on the lunar surface. Following its landing on June 2, 1966, in the southwest portion of Oceanus Procellarum, the spacecraft transmitted 11,240 high-resolution television pictures. Surveyor I completed its primary mission successfully on July 14, 1966 after transmitting data on the bearing strength, temperatures, and radar reflectivity of the lunar surface.

Surveyor I Image

NASA PHOTO: Image of Surveyor 1's shadow against the lunar surface in the late lunar afternoon, with the horizon at the upper right.

 

Surveyor 2

Surveyor II

Surveyor II, launched on September 20, 1966, was intended to land in Sinus Medii, a different area of the Apollo landing zone. When a mid-course maneuver was attempted, one engine failed to ignite causing the spacecraft to tumble. Although repeated efforts were made to salvage the mission, none was successful and the spacecraft crashed into the surface.

 

Surveyor 3

Surveyor III

Surveyor III successfully landed on the Moon on April 20, 1967, touching down in the eastern part of Oceanus Procellarum. Like its predecessors, Surveyor III carried a television camera and other instrumentation for examining the lunar-surface. In also carried a surface-sampler instrument for digging trenches, making bearing tests in the view of the television camera.

Surveyor III ended operations on May 4, 1967. During its operational cycle, Surveyor III acquired a large volume of data and took some 6326 pictures. It would play a later roll when Apollo 12 was able to land near the Surveyor's landing spot. The crew would retrieve several key parts of the Surveyor and return them to Earth. To date, that was the first time that a manned mission touched a probe on another world.

Surveyor 3

NASA PHOTO: Charles Conrad Jr, Apollo 12 Commander stands next to the Surveyor III spacecraft. Several components of the Surveyor 3 lander were collected and returned to the Earth for study of the long-term exposure effects of the harsh lunar environment on man-made objects and materials. Although space probes have returned to Earth in the decades since Apollo 12, this remains the only occasion in which humans have visited a probe that had been sent to another world.

LRO Image 2011

ABOVE: NASA photo taken in 2011 from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at about 12 miles above the Apollo 12 and Surveyor landing sites.

2011 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

In 2011 NASA released photos taken from the LRO circling the moon. These images were taken from 13 to 15 miles above the lunar surface. After 40 years, there doesn't seem to be much dust covering the clearly visible man-made trails connecting going from the Apollo lander (Intrepid) to the Surveyor 3 landing site.

Surveyor 4

Surveyor IV

Surveyor IV, carrying the same payload as Surveyor III, was launched on July 14, 1967. After a flawless flight to the Moon, radio signals from the spacecraft abruptly ceased during the terminal-descent phase, approximately 2 1/2 minutes before touchdown. Contact with the spacecraft was never reestablished.

 

Surveyor 5

Surveyor V

Surveyor V landed in Mare Tranquillitatis on September 11, 1967. This spacecraft was basically similar to its predecessors, except that the surface sampler was replaced by an alpha backscatter instrument, a device for determining the relative abundance of the chemical elements in the lunar material. In addition, a small bar magnet was attached to one of the footpads to indicate the presence of magnetic material in the lunar soil. Surveyor V was successful in sending back images and data until October 24, 1967, including going through a 2 week deep freeze during a lunar night.

 

Surveyor 6

Surveyor VI

Surveyor VI landed on the Moon on November 10, 1967. The landing site was in Sinus Medii, essentially in the center of the Moon's visible hemisphere, the last of four potential Apollo landing areas designated for investigation by the Surveyor program.

 

Surveyor 7

Surveyor VII

Having investigated possible Apollo landing zones, Surveyor VII was sent to an area where there was a primary scientific interest. The area selected for investigation, a site about 18 miles north of Tycho, differs considerably from those examined by previous Surveyors. This region was chosen because it is in the highlands, well removed from the maria, and was expected to be covered with debris excavated from beneath the surface of the highlands when Tycho was formed. It thus provides a significantly different type of lunar sample for comparison with those of previous missions. Surveyor VII landing on January 10, 1968 and successfully operated until January 26, 1968.

Surveyor VII Image

NASA PHOTO: Above image was taken from Surveyor VII, outisde of Tycho crater.