Missions to Moon - Surveyor-7

Country	:	USA
Research Org	:	NASA
Mission launch	:	launched in 1966 - 1968

Surveyor 1	:	Launched 30 May 1966
Surveyor 2	:	Launched 20 September 1966
Surveyor 3	:	Launched 17 April 1967
Surveyor 4	:	Launched 14 July 1967
Surveyor 5	:	Launched 08 September 1967
Surveyor 6	:	Launched 07 November 1967
Surveyor 7	:	Launched 07 January 1968

Surveyor 7 was the fifth and final 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 by: (1) developing and validating the technology for landing softly on the Moon; (2) providing data on the compatibility of the Apollo design with conditions encountered on the lunar surface; and (3) adding to the scientific knowledge of the Moon. The specific objectives for this mission were to: (1) perform a lunar soft landing (in a highland area well removed from the maria to provide a type of terrain photography and lunar sample significantly different from those of other Surveyor missions); (2) obtain postlanding TV pictures; (3) determine the relative abundances of chemical elements; (4) manipulate the lunar material; (5) obtain touchdown dynamics data; and, (6) obtain thermal and radar reflectivity data. Surveyor 7 was the only Surveyor craft to land in the lunar highland region.

References
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1968-001A

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