Fact Sheet
Surveying New Territory
Surveyor 1, the first American spacecraft to successfully soft-land on the Moon, touched down 35 years ago this week. The three-legged craft, which was identical to this test model, landed in Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms) on June 2, 1966. Over the next six months it transmitted more than 11,000 images of its surroundings. Its successful touchdown proved that the lunar surface was solid enough to support the Apollo lunar modules which would soon carry astronauts to the Moon.
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