Surveyor Program - Missions

Missions

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Lunar landing sites of Surveyor, Luna, and Apollo programs.

There were seven Surveyor missions; five were successful. Surveyors 2 and 4 failed.

• Surveyor 1 - Launched May 30, 1966; landed on Oceanus Procellarum, June 2, 1966
• Surveyor 2 - Launched September 20, 1966; crashed near Copernicus crater, September 23, 1966
• Surveyor 3 - Launched April 17, 1967; landed on Oceanus Procellarum, April 20, 1967
• Surveyor 4 - Launched July 14, 1967; crashed on Sinus Medii, July 17, 1967
• Surveyor 5 - Launched September 8, 1967; landed on Mare Tranquillitatis, September 11, 1967
• Surveyor 6 - Launched November 7, 1967; landed on Sinus Medii, November 10, 1967
• Surveyor 7 - Launched January 7, 1968; landed near Tycho crater, January 10, 1968

Surveyor 6 was the first spacecraft planned to liftoff from the Moon's surface. Surveyor 3 was the first spacecraft to unintentionally liftoff from the Moon's surface, which it did twice, due to an anomaly with Surveyor's Landing Radar which did not shut off the vernier engines but kept them firing throughout the first touchdown, and after it. Apollo 12's Lunar Module Intrepid landed 600 feet from Surveyor 3, as planned. Surveyor 3's TV and telemetry systems were found to have been damaged by its unplanned landings and liftoffs.