Fifty years ago, two astronauts became the world's first space archeologists, of a sort, retrieving parts from a robotic probe that preceded them to the surface of the moon. Half a century later, where have those Surveyor 3 artifacts ended up today?
Apollo 12 crewmates Charles "Pete" Conrad and Alan Bean achieved the first precise lunar touchdown on Nov. 19, 1969, landing within walking distance of the Surveyor 3 spacecraft. On their second of two moonwalks, Conrad and Bean ventured over to the robotic probe, which by then had been on the moon for two and a half years.
"Hey, we got a nice brown Surveyor here ... well, raise the visor and it's not so brown, but it's tan," described Bean...
LM-12 Member
Posts: 3633 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 10-31-2020 09:29 PM
The Apollo 12 press kit briefly mentions the bag used to store the Surveyor parts:
A modified pair of bolt-cutters and a stowage bag will be carried for removing and retrieving Surveyor components.
The ALSJ has this pre-flight photo of the Surveyor parts bag. Apart from the Surveyor camera and the bolt-cutters, what other items were carried in the bag?
The bag was stowed in SRC-2 in the MESA and placed on Pete Conrad's PLSS at the beginnning of EVA-2. Photo AS12-48-7082 seems to be the only image where you can see the bag on Conrad's PLSS during the EVA.
Is the flown bag in a museum somewhere?
LM-12 Member
Posts: 3633 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 11-01-2020 04:25 AM
The bolt-cutters in the Surveyor parts bag can be seen on Conrad's PLSS in 16mm film footage taken from the LM window at the start of EVA-2.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 47769 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-20-2021 09:43 AM
Adam Savage’s Tested video
The wonderful Smithsonian curators had a lot of surprises for Adam during his visit to the National Air and Space Museum, and one of them was this camera from the Surveyor III spacecraft! Curator Matt Shindell takes Adam on a tour of this artifact and explains what makes it so extraordinary.
Headshot Member
Posts: 1042 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 11-04-2021 05:11 PM
I gotta love Adam Savage, he is much of a geek as I am.
I am surprised at the size of the Surveyor camera, I always thought that it was about only half to two-thirds the size of what I saw in the video. Were there any pictures of it being toted back to Intrepid by Conrad and Bean?
I am also shocked at the appearance of the camera housing. I always knew they had taken samples for study as described in NASA SP-284, but failed to picture in my mind that it would give the camera housing a Swiss-cheese appearance, albeit with rectangular holes.
Great video. Thanks for posting it.
Tom Dahl Member
Posts: 39 From: MA, USA Registered: Jan 2012
posted 11-04-2021 05:44 PM
I remember as a teenager getting a copy of the NASA publication "Analysis of Surveyor 3 material and photographs returned by Apollo 12" and re-reading it many times in the 1970s. Here is a scan of the document hosted on the NASA technical reports server.
I had a real thrill years later when visiting the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and seeing the returned camera on display. There it was, right in front of me, including the gloved-finger marks through the lunar dust on the camera's mirror!
Paul78zephyr Member
Posts: 742 From: Hudson, MA Registered: Jul 2005
posted 01-29-2022 06:20 PM
Ive always found it puzzling that there are no photographs of the cutting shears (either before, during, or after the mission), or any photos of the shears being used, or of the cut surfaces of the Surveyor structural members on the moon. There also seems to be no detailed documentation that can be found that elaborates exactly what/where the crew was to cut the Surveyor spacecraft.
oly Member
Posts: 1338 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
posted 01-29-2022 07:28 PM
The bold cutter during training:
Surveyor after parts had been removed showing cut tubes and wires:
Training using a mock-up of the Surveyor so that detailed procedures could be established to recover the items of interest from Surveyor:
The highly detailed documentation that "elaborates exactly what/where the crew was to cut the Surveyor spacecraft."
As the procedure to remove items from Surveyor required one crew member to cut metal tubes, straps, and wires, which produces sharp edges and hazards that could cut or puncture the pressure suit, it was more prudent for the second crew member to assist the first in the job at hand rather than take photographs of the event.
Paul78zephyr Member
Posts: 742 From: Hudson, MA Registered: Jul 2005
posted 01-29-2022 07:59 PM
You have found what I was searching for. Thank you.
oly Member
Posts: 1338 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
posted 01-29-2022 11:46 PM
quote:Originally posted by Paul78zephyr: There also seems to be no detailed documentation...
posted 11-22-2019 12:45 PM
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