Surveyor 3
Surveyor 3 was the third lunar lander of the Surveyor program that explored the Moon.
A total of 6,315 images were transmitted to Earth.
As it was landing, highly reflective rocks confused Surveyor 3's descent radar. The engines failed to cut off at 14 foot as per the planned flight profile. This spacecraft bounced twice. The first bounce reached an altitude of 35 feet. The second bounce reached 11 feet. On the third impact -- from an initial altitude of 11 feet and velocity of zero which was under the original design target of 14 feet slowly descending -- the spacecraft settled in a soft landing as per the design intentions.
This mission was the first carrying a surface soil sampling scoop. This was mounted on a motor driven arm and used to dig four trenches. The trenches were up to 7 inches deep. Samples from the trenches were placed in front of the spacecraft's television cameras for image transmission back to Earth. When Lunar nightfall came on May 3, 1967; the spacecraft was shut down to preserve battery power, upon the next lunar dawn (14 terrestrial days, or approximately 14 times 24 = 336 hours) the spacecraft could not be reactivated.
This site was subsequently selected for the Apollo 12 manned lunar mission. Several components of the Surveyor were collected and returned to Earth for study of the long term exposure effects of the harsh lunar environment on human artifacts.
Perhaps Surveyor 3's most remarkable finding, though, was a complete accident.
A common bacteria, Streptococcus mitis, was unintentionally present inside the spacecraft's camera at launch. Around 50-100 of this bacteria survived dormant in this harsh environment for three years, to be detected when Apollo 12 brought the camera back to Earth. The discovery, while paid comparatively little attention at the time, is now taken as giving some credence to the idea of interplanetary panspermia.
Pete Conrad visits the landing site of Surveyor 3. The Apollo 12 lunar lander that carried him is visible in the background.
Referenced By
1967 | Apollo 12 | Apollo XII | Fra Mauro | List of unmanned spacecraft by program | Ocean of Storms | Oceanus Procellarum | Panspermia | Procellarum basin | Sea of Storms | Surveyor program | Timeline of Planetary Exploration | Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
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