posted 03-12-2017 07:00 AM               

Space Cover #408: Surveyor 3 at 50

At the top is a KSC Official Cachet postmarked at KSC on April 17, 1967 for the launch of the unmanned Surveyor 3 lunar landing mission that occurred 50 years ago next month. Please note that the "First Space Prospector" notation is not a part of the KSC Official Cachet and was added later. Below that is the Spacecraft Cachet for Surveyor 3's landing on the moon, postmarked at Cape Canaveral on April 19, 1967.

Surveyor 3 followed the successful Surveyor 1 and unsuccessful Surveyor 2 unmanned moon landings. As shown above, it was launched April 17, 1967, and this launch is the only unmanned Ranger/Surveyor/Lunar Orbiter launch to have merited a KSC Official Cachet. It landed on the Ocean of Storms two days later. Surveyor 3's landing rocket did not cut off quite early enough, causing it to bounce twice on the moon before finally settling in. It carried the first lunar soil scoop and 24 tests of the lunar soil's mechanical properties were performed with that scoop (Surveyor 3 was not equipped to do chemical analysis). Surveyor 3 was shut down on May 3, 1967 to prepare for lunar night.

Unfortunately, the plucky spacecraft did not revive after the lunar night. However, to quote that television ad icon of the time, Ron Popeil, "But wait, there's more!"

Surveyor 3's landing site was of enough interest to merit landing Apollo 12 there in November, 1969. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed their lunar module only 600 feet away from Surveyor 3. They visited Surveyor 3 on their second moonwalk and retrieved its soil scoop, television camera, and some smaller pieces to bring back to Earth for analysis. A stylized image of this encounter is shown on the Apollo 12 launch VIP Card shown above.