The Lunar Landings of the Surveyor Missions

Everyone knows about the showstopping Apollo missions that resulted in the first man on the moon. Not as popular but just as important are Apollo's neglected cousins, the Surveyor mission moon landings. Surveyor was elaborately engineered and well financed. The Surveyor missions were to have conducted scientific experiments to gather facts about the lunar surface. Budgets were trimmed for Surveyor when the president announced his approval of manned flights. Once manned moon landings were perceived as real, the Surveyor missions were put to work gathering evidence that could be used to produce a man on the moon. The Apollo missions were to be the star of the lunar landing family, bringing the astronauts who would conduct experiments on the moon. While the Surveyor missions were all work, crash landings and explosions, they made it possible for Apollo to grab the spotlight and imagination of the American public.

Successful Moon Landings

The lunar landing sites for Surveyor missions 1,3,5 and 6 were chosen because they were being considered for Apollo missions. The first Surveyor was launched in May 1966. It was to land at Flamsteed Ring, an ancient impact crater, named for a British astronomer which lies in the Ocean of Storms. This was the first spacecraft to have a soft moon landing.

All the surveyor missions carried a survey television camera and number 3 had a surface sampler instrument which could be used to dig on the surface. The moon landing site for mission number 3 was Oceanus Procellarum or Ocean of Storms. This lunar landing was a bouncy ride as the engines did not shut down like they were supposed to and the craft bounced three times on the moon's surface.

The mission number 5 moon landing site was Mare (pronounced mahr-ay) Tranquillitatus, or Sea of Tranquility. This mission was considered a success and returned 18,006 television images. The craft spent two weeks in freezing lunar weather and when given the command to turn on, resumed work right away.

Mission number 6 was launched on November 07, 1967 and the lunar landing site was Sinus Medii, or Bay of the Center. This craft was fitted with an alpha scattering instrument and returned much data about the chemical composition of the surface of the moon.

Crash landings and Explosions before Moon Landing

Not all the Surveyor missions were successful. Mission number 2 was to have a moon landing in the Sinus Medii, which is in the center of the side of the moon that faces earth. One of the engines failed to ignite and the imbalance caused the spacecraft to tumble. It crashed near the Copernicus Crater on September 22, 1966.

Mission number 4 seemed to be going perfectly at 5938mph when all contact was lost just before lunar landing. It is uncertain whether Surveyor four exploded or disintegrated on impact.

The last Surveyor mission was number 7. The lunar landing site was in complicated terrain on the Tycho Crater North Rim. The moon landing proceeded without incident and the mission was considered a success. 20,993 television pictures were taken the first day. This mission was in operation from January 10^Th 1968 to February 21^st 1968.

The Surveyor missions sent data to earth that showed it would be possible to put a man on the moon in a successful lunar landing. The robotic Surveyor missions were then retired, never to return but having opened the door for earthlings to walk on the moon.

http://beyondapollo.blogspot.com/2010/02/mission-to-flamsteed-p-1967.html

http://www.lunarpedia.org/index.php?title=Sinus_Medii

http://www.lunarrepublic.com/gazetteer/crater_f.shtml