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| "SpaceCraft" Surveyor 1 launch cover cancelled at Cape Canaveral, May 30, 1966. Signed by Surveyor Project Manager, Robert J. Parks. |
Launched on 30 May 1966, Surveyor 1 was the first spacecraft from the United States to perform a controlled landing on the surface of the moon. Once on the surface, Surveyor 1 took over 11,100 high-resolution, close-up photographs of the lunar landscape during three lunar day-night cycles (or about six earth weeks), where temperatures soared as high as 250 degree Farenheit (120 degree celcius) during the day and plunged to -260 degree Farenheit (-160 degree celcius). Particles as small as 1/50th of an inch (0.05 cm) in diameter could be detected.
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| Photo: A full scale model of the Surveyor 1 spacecraft. |
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| Surveyor 1 launch cover with Cape Canaveral hand cancel, May 30, 1966. |
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| Photo: "As the Surveyor spacecraft was carried into space Monday toward
the moon by an Atlas booster rocket, astronauts Thomas P. Stafford (left) and Eugene Cernan (right) watched its progress at Cape Kennedy. Between them was fellow astronaut Donald P. Slayton, a native of the Sparta (Wis.) area. Stafford and Cernan are scheduled to start their Gemini 9 space flight Wednesday. AP Wirephoto, May 30, 1966." |
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| Photo: "Robert J. Parks, Surveyor project manager, uses a large photo of the moon to point out the spot where Surveyor 1 will land tomorrow night in an effort to return close-up photos of lunar terrain to earth. Parks told a press conference at Jet Propulsion Laboratory today that an amazingly precise mid-course maneuver has steered the spacecraft to a point just 10 miles from its original target in the moon's Sea of Storms. AP Wirephoto. May 31, 1966." |
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| Photo: Surveyor 1 television camera showing surface of the moon's Ocean of Storms, June 7, 1966. |
