Mission Details
| Mission Name: Surveyor 4 |
| Mission Type: Lunar Lander |
| Operator: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) |
| Launching State: United States |
| Location: Between Mösting & Bruce Craters |
| Latitude: 0.43 |
| Longitude: -1.62 |
| Launch Date: 14 July 1967, 11:53:29 UT |
| Landing Date: 17 July 1967, 02:05:00 UT |
| Objects on or Related to Site: Surveyor 4 |
| Image Source: NASA |
Description
The Surveyor program consisted of seven uncrewed lunar missions that were launched between May 1966 and January 1968. Five of these spacecraft, Surveyor 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 successfully soft-landed on the lunar surface. In addition to demonstrating the feasibility of lunar surface landings, the Surveyor missions obtained lunar and cislunar photographs and both scientific and technological information needed for the Apollo manned landing program. Four spacecraft, Surveyor 1, 3, 5, and 6, returned data from selected mare sites from Apollo program support, and Surveyor 7 provided data from a contrasting rugged highland region.
The mission of Surveyor 4 was to demonstrate the technology necessary to achieve landing and operations on the lunar surface.
Read more:
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/surveyor/
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/surveyor-4/in-depth/
Heritage Consideration
Radio signals from the spacecraft stopped a few minutes before landing and contact was never reestablished.
Object on or Related to Site
| Object Name: Surveyor 4 | |
| Cospar: 1967-068A | |
| Norad: N/A | |
| Location: Precise location unknown or undisclosed. | |
| Launch Date: 14 July 1967, 11:53:29 UT | |
| Landing Date: 17 July 1967, 02:05:00 UT | |
| Deployment: N/A | |
| End Date: N/A | |
| Function: Lunar landing feasibility and data collection. | |
| Image Source: NASA |
Description
This spacecraft was the fourth in a series designed to achieve a soft landing on the moon and to return photography of the lunar surface for determining characteristics of the lunar terrain for Apollo lunar landing missions.
Equipment on board included a television camera and auxiliary mirrors, a soil mechanics surface sampler, strain gauges on the spacecraft landing legs, and numerous engineering sensors. After a flawless flight to the moon, radio signals from the spacecraft ceased during the terminal-descent phase on 17 July 1967, approximately 2.5 min before touchdown. Contact with the spacecraft was never reestablished, and the mission was unsuccessful.
The original landing target was 0.4 N, 1.33 W, the impact site is unknown, it is possible the spacecraft exploded before impact.
Read more:
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1967-068A
