United States — NASA
Surveyor 1: Lunar Landing

Mission Details

Mission Name: Surveyor 1
Mission Type: Lunar Lander
Operator: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
Launching State: United States
Location: Oceanus Procellarum
Latitude: -2.474
Longitude: -43.339
Launch Date: 30 May 1966, 14:41:01 UT
Landing Date: 2 June 1966, 06:17:36 UT
Objects on or Related to Site:
Surveyor 1
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 1 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/

Heritage Consideration

Surveyor 1 collected information about the lunar surface that informed the planning for the Apollo crewed lunar landings.

Object on or Related to Site

Object Name: Surveyor 1
Cospar: 1966-045A
Norad: N/A
Location: Precise location unknown or undisclosed.
Launch Date: 30 May 1966, 14:41:01 UT
Landing Date: 2 June 1966, 06:17:36 UT
Deployment: N/A
End Date: 13 July 1966
Function: Lunar landing feasibility and data collection.
Image Source: NASA

Description

The specific primary objectives for this mission were to:

  1. Demonstrate the capability of the Surveyor spacecraft to perform successful midcourse and terminal maneuvers, and to achieve a soft landing on the Moon.
  2. Demonstrate the capability of the Surveyor communications system and Deep Space Network to maintain communications with the spacecraft during its flight and after a soft landing.
  3. Demonstrate the capability of the Atlas/Centaur launch vehicle to inject the Surveyor spacecraft on a lunar intercept trajectory.

Secondary objectives were to obtain engineering data on spacecraft subsystems used during cruise, descent and after landing. Tertiary objectives were to obtain postlanding TV pictures of a spacecraft footpad, the surface material immediately surrounding it and the lunar topography, and to obtain data on radar reflectivity and bearing strength of the lunar surface and on spacecraft temperatures.

Read more:
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-045A

Suggested
Suggested contents and articles.
Suggested Contents
Surveyor 5: Lunar Landing
The mission of Surveyor 5 was to demonstrate the technology necessary to achieve landing and operations on the lunar surface. Surveyor 5 was the first human spacecraft to complete a soil analysis on another celestial boday other than Earth.
Surveyor 4: Lunar Landing
The mission of Surveyor 4 was to demonstrate the technology necessary to achieve landing and operations on the lunar surface. Radio signals from the spacecraft stopped a few minutes before landing and contact was never reestablished.
Surveyor 3: Lunar Landing
Surveyor 3 was designed to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface and to return lunar surface photography and other data. Astronauts from Apollo 12 made contact with Surveyor 3 and recovered parts to return to Earth so that scientists could evaluate the effects of nearly two-and-a-half years of
Comments
All comments.
Comments