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1967 Surveyor III Moon Surface Photos
1.450,00 €
1967 Surveyor III NASA Jet Propulsion Lab 12 Moon Surface Spacecraft Photos; Surveyor 3 was the second spacecraft of the Surveyor series to achieve a lunar soft landing. The primary objectives of the Surveyor program, a series of seven robotic lunar softlanding flights, were to support the coming crewed Apollo landings; Initial photos were received within an hour of landing and the surface sampler was used two days later.
EB17012019A100
EB17012019A100
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A few seconds before touchdown the radars lost lock, apparently due to high scintillating reflections from the landing site. The guidance system automatically switched to an inertially controlled mode which prevented vernier engine cutoff. Touchdown on the lunar surface occurred three times because the vernier engines continued to fire during the first two touchdowns causing the spacecraft to lift off the surface. The distance between the first and second touchdown sites was about 20 meters and between the second and third 11 meters. Engines were shut off 34 seconds after initial touchdown by an engine cutoff command transmitted from Earth. The spacecraft slid about 30 cm following final touchdown. Surveyor 3 came to rest on a 14 degree slope inside a subdued 200 meter crater in southeast Oceanus Procellarum roughly 370 km south of Copernicus crater.