Surveyor (1966 - 1968)

The Surveyor probes were the first U.S. spacecraft to land safely on the Moon. The images above show the Surveyor spacecraft at the beach and a view of the footpad of Surveyor 5. The trench to the right of the footpad was formed during the landing. The main objectives of the Surveyors were to obtain close-up images of the lunar surface and to determine if the terrain was safe for manned landings. Each Surveyor was equipped with a television camera. In addition, Surveyors 3 and 7 each carried a soil mechanics surface sampler scoop which dug trenches and was used for soil mechanics tests and Surveyors 5, 6, and 7 had magnets attached to the footpads and an alpha scattering instrument for chemical analysis of the lunar material.

Surveyor panorama

Click on the spacecraft name for information on missions, experiments, and data held at NSSDC.

Surveyor 1

Launched 30 May 1966
Landed 02 June 1966, 06:17:37 UT
Latitude 2.45 S, Longitude 316.79 E - Flamsteed P

Surveyor 2

Launched 20 September 1966
Crashed on Moon 22 September 1966
Vernier engine failed to ignite - southeast of Copernicus Crater

Surveyor 3

Launched 17 April 1967
Landed 20 April 1967, 00:04:53 UT
Latitude 2.94 S, Longitude 336.66 E - Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms)

Surveyor 4

Launched 14 July 1967
Radio contact lost 17 July 1967
2.5 minutes from touchdown - Sinus Medii

Surveyor 5

Launched 08 September 1967
Landed 11 September 1967, 00:46:44 UT
Latitude 1.41 N, Longitude 23.18 E - Mare Tranquillitatus (Sea of Tranquility)

Surveyor 6

Launched 07 November 1967
Landed 10 November 1967, 01:01:06 UT
Latitude 0.46 N, Longitude 358.63 E - Sinus Medii

Surveyor 7

Launched 07 January 1968
Landed 10 January 1968, 01:05:36 UT
Latitude 41.01 S, Longitude 348.59 E - Tycho North Rim

Surveyor close-up
[Surveyor 7 panorama]

Surveyor 7 panorama of Tycho crater

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Questions and comments about this page should be addressed to:
Dr. David R. Williams, dwilliam@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov, (301) 286-1258
NSSDC, Mail Code 633, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771