Surveyor program
The lunar Surveyor Program was initiated and carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of soft landing on the Moon. This was done in preparation for the Apollo Program. The program was implemented by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and performed other several services beyond its primary goal. The ability for a spacecraft to make midcourse corrections was demonstrated, and the landers carried instruments to assist with evaluation of the suitability of their landing sites for manned Apollo landings.
There were seven Surveyor missions, five were successful. Surveyor 2 and 4 failed. Each consisted of a single unmanned spacecraft designed and built by Hughes Aircraft Company.
- Surveyor 1 - Launched May 30, 1966; landed June 2, 1966
- Surveyor 2 - Launched September 20, 1966; crashed September 23, 1966
- Surveyor 3 - Launched April 17, 1967; landed April 20, 1967
- Surveyor 4 - Launched July 14, 1967; crashed July 17, 1967
- Surveyor 5 - Launched September 3, 1967; landed September 11, 1967
- Surveyor 6 - Launched November 7, 1967; landed November 10, 1967
- Surveyor 7 - Launched January 7, 1968; landed January 10, 1968