Surveyor 7
Surveyor 7 was the seventh and last lunar lander of the Surveyor program.
- Launched January 7, 1968; landed January 10, 1968
- Weight on landing: 625 lbs
Landed near the large lunar crater Tycho. This crater is visible to the naked eye from Earth with luminous rays of impact ejected material radially emanating from it. The crater is named for the famous astronomer.
This was the final spacecraft in the Surveyor program. It landed perfectly, less than two miles from the navigational target. The alpha backscattering instrument failed to deploy properly. Mission controllers successfully used the surface soil sampler claw to push the alpha backscattering instrument into the proper position to conduct its experiments. Battery damage was suffered in the first lunar night and transmission contact was subsequently sporadic. The spacecraft was last in contact on 20 Feb 1968.
