Mission type | Lunar lander |
---|---|
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 1967-035A |
SATCAT no. | 02756 |
Mission duration | 16 days (launch to last contact) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Manufacturer | Hughes Aircraft |
Launch mass | 1,026 kilograms (2,262 lb)[1] |
Landing mass | 296 kilograms (653 lb) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | April 17, 1967, 07:05:01[1] | UTC
Rocket | Atlas LV-3C Centaur-D AC-12 |
Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-36B |
End of mission | |
Last contact | May 3, 1967 |
Lunar lander | |
Landing date | April 20, 1967, 00:04:53 UTC |
Landing site | 3°00′58″S 23°25′04″W / 3.01612°S 23.41791°W |
Surveyor 3 is the third lander of the American uncrewed Surveyor program sent to explore the surface of the Moon in 1967 and the second to successfully land. It was the first mission to carry a surface-soil sampling-scoop.
Surveyor 3 was visited by Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean in November 1969, and remains the only probe visited by humans on another world. The Apollo 12 astronauts excised several components of Surveyor 3, including the television camera, and returned them to Earth for study.