Surveyor 3
Surveyor 3 was the third probe of the U.S. space agency NASA as part of the Surveyor program. The Surveyor program was the successor of the Ranger program. The results of the program should prepare the first manned lunar landing. Surveyor 3 was undamaged land on the moon and send images and data from there to the earth. After Surveyor 1 was the second U.S. probe that landed softly on the moon and was able to fulfill their mission.
Mission
Surveyor 3 was launched on April 17, 1967 aboard an Atlas - Centaur rocket from the launch pad LC - 36 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A running course correction was, in contrast to Surveyor 2, easily. On April 20, the probe reached the moon. At an altitude of 76 kilometers above the lunar surface and at a speed of 2,626 m / s set fire to the first braking rockets, which delayed the speed to 137 m / s. Then took over, as with Surveyor 1, the Doppler radar altimeter and the further landing. With vernier engines, the probe should be braked in a controlled in the final meters. Probably caused by reflections, however, the nozzles switched off too late, so Surveyor 3 not gently touched down, but three additional small "jumps" made . The distance between the first and second contact with the ground was about 20 meters, between the second and the third about 11 meters. The probe chute after landing for about 30 cm, as the ground had a slope of 14 degrees. She landed three kilometers from the planned point in Oceanus Procellarum, about 370 km south of the Copernicus crater.
After a functional test Surveyor submitted 3 the first of a total of 6,326 images. In addition, data were on the reflectivity of the lunar surface, collected the strength of the surface and the temperature of the probe and transmitted. The temperature of the probe conclusions should be drawn to the surface temperature of the moon. An excavator put on a 18 cm deep trench. Even with this experiment, conclusions were drawn on the nature of the lunar surface. Images of a solar eclipse (triggered by the Earth ) are also included.
Surveyor 3 lunar survived the night unscathed and sent the next lunar day again data and images. The last data was received on May 4, 1967 at 12:04 UT.
The mission was a success.
Apollo 12
About 2 years later, on November 19, 1969, Apollo 12 landed just 180 meters from Surveyor 3 removed. The astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean visited the spacecraft on its second outdoor use on 20 November. They took pictures of the probe and the surrounding area and dismantled a total of nearly 10 kilograms parts of the probe, including the TV camera.
Trivia
The Surveyor 3 camera is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The landing sites of Surveyor 3 and Apollo 12 are seen in the pictures of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.