Surveyor 3
Surveyor 3 — a successful soft-lander (launched 17 April 1967) that touched down in the Ocean of Storms, returned over 6,000 images and dug the first trench in lunar soil. In 1969 the Apollo 12 astronauts walked to it and brought pieces home — the only spacecraft ever visited by people on another world.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- NASA / JPL
- Launched
- April 17, 1967
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 1.01 AU
- Distance from Earth
- 422,945 km
- Distance from Venus
- 0.603 AU
Mission
Surveyor 3 both succeeded and, years later, became the setting for one of Apollo's strangest moments. Launched on 17 April 1967, it soft-landed in the Ocean of Storms — though its descent radar briefly locked onto reflective rocks and the craft bounced twice before settling. It returned more than 6,000 images and, with a small scoop, dug the first trenches in lunar soil to test how it held together. Then, in November 1969, Apollo 12 landed deliberately close by, and astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean walked over to the two-year-old spacecraft. They photographed it, cut away its camera and other parts, and carried them back to Earth so engineers could study how the lunar environment had weathered them. Surveyor 3 remains the only spacecraft ever visited by people on the surface of another world.
- 1967MoonLander
Soft-landed in the Ocean of Storms and dug the first trenches in lunar soil; the Apollo 12 crew later walked to it and carried parts home.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image