View of Surveyor III in Its Crater

Surveyor 3, a small, white spacecraft, on the Moon's powdery surface
NASA/JSC
June 29, 2018
CreditNASA/JSC
Historical DateNovember 20, 1969
Language
  • english

An excellent view of the unmanned Surveyor 3 spacecraft which was photographed during the Apollo 12 second extravehicular activity (EVA) on the surface of the moon. The Apollo 12 Lunar Module (LM), with astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., commander, and Alan L. Bean, lunar module pilot, aboard landed within 600 feet of Surveyor 3 in the Ocean of Storms. The television camera and several other pieces were taken from Surveyor 3 and brought back to Earth for scientific examination. Surveyor 3 landed on the side of this small crater in the Ocean of Storms on April 19, 1967. Astronaut Richard F. Gordon Jr., command module pilot, remained with the Apollo 12 Command and Service Modules (CSM) in lunar orbit while Conrad and Bean descended to explore the moon.