Surveyor 2
Surveyor 2 — the soft-lander programme's first failure (launched 20 September 1966). A vernier thruster failed to fire during a course correction, sending the craft into an uncontrolled tumble; it crashed southeast of the crater Copernicus. (Impact site approximate.)
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- NASA / JPL
- Launched
- September 20, 1966
- Status
- Lost
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 1.01 AU
- Distance from Earth
- 434,387 km
- Distance from Venus
- 0.603 AU
Mission
Surveyor 2 was the soft-landing programme's first stumble. Where the Rangers had crashed on purpose and the Lunar Orbiters had mapped from above, the Surveyors were meant to set down gently and prove that the lunar surface could bear a lander's weight. Launched on 20 September 1966, Surveyor 2 was on a good path when one of its three vernier thrusters failed to fire during a midcourse correction. The uneven thrust threw the spacecraft into an uncontrollable tumble that no command could stop, and it crashed near the crater Copernicus. It was a sharp reminder, after the success of Surveyor 1, that soft-landing on the Moon left no margin for a single balky thruster.
Images
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