Surveyor 1 lands on the Moon
JUN 02, 2015
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.030977
On this day in 1966 Surveyor 1 touched down on the lunar surface, becoming the first NASA probe to soft-land on an extraterrestrial body. During its seven-month spell on the Moon, the lander took 11,237 images of its landing site in the Oceanus Procellarum. Digital photography as we know it did not exist at the time. Surveyor 1 took and transmitted still pictures using TV technology.
Date in History: 2 June 1966
© 2015. American Institute of Physics