November 07 – launch of Surveyor 6

In the 1960’s, one of the many problems facing the planners of the manned Apollo program was whether it was even possible to land on the moon, and what kind of surface would be waiting for any unsuspecting astronauts.

Not actually Surveyor 6, but The general design of all NASA’s Surveyor spacecraft was the same, so here you go. (image credit: NASA).

So NASA sent a series of Surveyor probes up to find out more about what would be waiting from them. The sixth of the series was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on November 7th, 1967, on a three day journey to the Sinus Medii (“Middle Bay“) one of the Moon’s smaller basaltic plains.

View of Sinus Medii from Surveyor 6. (Image credit: NASA)

After sending back nearly 30,000 images of the surface, Surveyor 6 left it briefly, becoming the first craft to lift off from a body other than the Earth. By firing its engines for just a few seconds, it was able to lift about 10 feet into the air and land 8 feet away from its original position. This allowed photographs to be taken of the footprints left by the first landing, with the aim of gaining a better understanding the mechanical properties of the Lunar surface.