Editing Surveyor 3 (section)

==History==
Launched on April 17, 1967, Surveyor 3 landed on April 20, 1967, at the [[Mare Cognitum]] portion of the [[Oceanus Procellarum]] (S3° 01' 41.43" W23° 27' 29.55"), in a small crater that was subsequently named [[Surveyor (crater)|Surveyor]]. It transmitted 6,315 TV images to the Earth, including the [[first images of Earth from space|first images to show what planet Earth looked like from the Moon's surface]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.planetary.org/space-images/first-image-of-earth-from-surveyor-3|title = First image of Earth from the surface of the Moon: Surveyor 3}}</ref>

As Surveyor 3 was landing in the crater<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/a12.surveyor.html|title=Surveyor Crater and Surveyor III|website=www.hq.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.history.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/survcrat.jpg|title=nasa.gov ''Contour Map of Surveyor Crater''|access-date=2009-09-02 |archive-date=2013-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130317160112/http://www.history.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/survcrat.jpg|url-status=dead}}</ref> highly reflective rocks confused the spacecraft's lunar descent [[radar]]. The engines failed to cut off at {{convert|14|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} in altitude as called for in the mission plans, and this delay caused the lander to bounce on the lunar surface twice.<ref name=AAS:04-062>{{Cite conference| title = ''Surveyor''Spacecraft Automatic Landing System | first = Sam W. | last = Thurman | date = February 2004 | conference = 27th Annual AAS Guidance and Control Conference | url = http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/handle/2014/38026?mode=full | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080227050234/http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/handle/2014/38026?mode=full | archive-date = February 27, 2008}}</ref> Its first bounce reached the altitude of about {{convert|35|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}. The second bounce reached a height of about {{convert|11|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}}. On the third impact with the surface – from the initial altitude of {{convert|3|m|ft|order=flip|sigfig=1|abbr=off|sp=us}}, and velocity of zero, which was below the planned altitude of {{convert|14|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}, and very slowly descending – Surveyor 3 settled down to a soft landing as intended.

This Surveyor mission was the first that carried a surface-soil sampling-scoop, which can be seen on its extendable arm in the pictures. This mechanism was mounted on an electric-motor-driven arm and was used to dig four trenches in the lunar soil. These trenches were up to {{convert|7|in|cm}} deep. Samples of soil from the trenches were placed in front of the Surveyor's television cameras to be photographed and the pictures radioed back to the Earth. When the first lunar nightfall came on May 3, 1967, Surveyor 3 was shut down because its solar panels were no longer producing electricity. At the next lunar dawn (after 14 terrestrial days, or about 336 hours), Surveyor 3 could not be reactivated, because of the extremely cold temperatures that it had experienced. This is in contrast with the [[Surveyor 1]], which was able to be reactivated twice after lunar nights, but then never again.<ref>{{cite web|last=Krebs|first=Gunter D. |title=Surveyor 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7|publisher=Gunter's Space Page|access-date=May 8, 2023|url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/surveyor.htm}}</ref>

{{Anchor|Retrieved parts}}
Surveyor 3 became famous after the crew of [[Apollo 12]] used it as a landing target site. Landing within walking distance on November 19, 1969, the astronauts took several pictures of the probe and removed a scoop from the probe's soil mechanics-surface sampler, a section of unpainted aluminum tube from a strut supporting the Surveyor's radar altimeter and [[Doppler]] velocity sensor, another section of aluminum tube that was coated with inorganic white paint and a segment of television cable wrapped in aluminized plastic film and the Surveyor 3's television camera which were returned to Earth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.space.com/apollo-12-surveyor-3-parts-50-years.html|title = 50 Years on, Where Are the Surveyor 3 Moon Probe Parts Retrieved by Apollo 12?|website = [[Space.com]]|date = November 23, 2019}}</ref> Surveyor 3 is the only probe visited by humans on another world.