Editing Surveyor 2

{{short description|Failed lunar lander launched in 1966}}
{{Infobox spaceflight
| name               = Surveyor 2
| image              = File:Surveyor mockup.jpg
| image_caption      = Surveyor model on Earth
| mission_type       = Lunar [[Lander (spacecraft)|lander]]
| operator           = [[NASA]]
| website            = 
| COSPAR_ID          = 1966-084A
| SATCAT             = 02425
| mission_duration   = 45 hours 3 min. to last contact; 62 hours 46 min. to failed soft landing
| spacecraft_type    = 
| manufacturer       = [[Hughes Aircraft]]
| dry_mass           = {{convert|292|kg|lb}}
| launch_mass        = {{convert|995.2|kg|lb}}<ref name="Surveyor 2">{{cite web|url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/surveyor-2/in-depth/ |title=Surveyor 2 |date=27 December 2017 |publisher=NASA's Solar System Exploration website |access-date=December 2, 2022}}</ref>
| power              = <!-- [[watt]]s -->
| launch_date        = {{start date text|September 20, 1966, 12:32:00|timezone=yes}}&nbsp;UTC <ref name="Surveyor 2" />
| launch_rocket      = [[Atlas-Centaur|Atlas LV-3C Centaur-D]] AC-7
| launch_site        = [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station|Cape Canaveral]] [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 36|LC-36A]]
| launch_contractor  = 
| orbit_epoch        = 
| orbit_reference    = <!--transfer orbit-->
| orbit_periapsis    = 
| orbit_apoapsis     = 
| orbit_inclination  = 
| apsis              = 
| interplanetary     = {{Infobox spaceflight/IP
   |type                = lander_impact
   |object              = [[Moon|Lunar]]
   |arrival_date        = September 23, 1966, 03:18:00&nbsp;UTC
   |location            = {{Lunar coords and quad cat|04.0|S|11.0|W}}
 }}
| programme          = ''[[Surveyor program|Surveyor]]''
| previous_mission   = [[Surveyor 1]]
| next_mission       = [[Surveyor 3]]
}}
'''Surveyor 2''' was to be the second lunar lander in the uncrewed [[United States|American]] [[Surveyor program]] to explore the [[Moon]]. After launch on September 20, 1966, a mid-course correction failure resulted in the spacecraft losing control. Contact was lost with the spacecraft  at 9:35 UTC, September 22.

==Background==
{{Main|Surveyor program}}
On February 3, 1966, the [[Luna 9]] spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a [[Moon|lunar]] [[Soft landing (rocketry)|soft landing]] and to transmit photographic data to [[Earth]]. On May 30, [[Surveyor 1]] launched, landing on [[Oceanus Procellarum]] on June 2. This craft also transmitted photographic data back to Earth.

This spacecraft was the second of a series designed to achieve a soft landing on the Moon and to return lunar surface photography for determining characteristics of the lunar terrain for [[Apollo program]] lunar landing missions.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jx0QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=apMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2577,3386174&dq=surveyor+2&hl=en|date= 21 September 1966|publisher=The Age - 21 September 1966|title=Surveyor 2 on way|access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref> Besides transmitting photos, Surveyor 2 was planned to perform a 'bounce', to photograph underneath its own landing site. It was also equipped to return data on radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, bearing strength of the lunar surface, and spacecraft temperatures for use in the analysis of lunar surface temperatures.

==Launch==
[[File:Surveyor 2 launch.jpg|thumb|Launch of Surveyor 2 on an Atlas-Centaur (AC-7)]]
The launch took place from [[Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36|Space Launch Complex 36A]] at Cape Kennedy, Florida aboard an [[Atlas-Centaur]] rocket.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FJMOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5H8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5214,4310701&dq=surveyor+2&hl=en|date=19 September 1966|newspaper=The Deseret News|title=Central Moon Landing Try for Surveyor 2|access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref> Liftoff was at 12:32 UTC on 20 September 1966.<ref name=NSSDCA>{{cite web |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-084A |title=Surveyor 2 |publisher=NASA}}</ref>

==Failure==
The target area proposed was within [[Sinus Medii]]. The Atlas-Centaur had placed Surveyor 2 on a path to the Moon that was only 130&nbsp;km from its aim point. During the midcourse correction maneuver one [[vernier thruster]] failed to ignite, resulting in unbalanced thrust that caused the spacecraft to tumble for its remaining 54 hours. Attempts to salvage the mission failed. Contact was lost with the spacecraft at 9:35 UTC, September 22.  The spacecraft was targeted at Sinus Medii, but crashed near [[Copernicus (lunar crater)|Copernicus crater]]. The spacecraft was calculated to have impacted the lunar surface at 03:18 UTC, September 23, 1966. Its weight on impact was 644&nbsp;lb (292&nbsp;kg), and speed was about 6000 miles an hour (2.6&nbsp;km/s = 5840&nbsp;mph), slightly over lunar escape velocity (2.4&nbsp;km/s) and similar to the impact velocities of the [[Ranger program]] spacecraft.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bss/factsheets/scientific/surveyor/surveyor.html |title=Boeing: Satellite Development Center - Scientific Exploration - Surveyor |access-date=2010-03-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100207072958/http://boeing.com/defense-space/space/bss/factsheets/scientific/surveyor/surveyor.html |archive-date=2010-02-07 }}</ref>

==Aftermath==
Lunar exploration continued to be challenging. The next Soviet mission, [[Cosmos 111]], was launched on March 1, 1966, but failed to reach a proper lunar trajectory, re-entering Earth's atmosphere two days later. [[Surveyor 3]] soft-landed on April 20, 1967, at the [[Mare Cognitum]] portion of the Oceanus Procellarum. It transmitted a total of 6,315 television images to the Earth.

There were seven Surveyor missions; five were successful.  Surveyors 2 and 4 failed. Each consisted of a single uncrewed spacecraft designed and built by [[Hughes Aircraft Company]]. The precise location of the Surveyor 2 crash site is unknown.

==Centaur upper stage==
{{Main|2020 SO}}
[[File:Animation of 2020 SO around Earth.gif|thumb|Animation of 2020 SO around Earth]]
The [[Centaur (rocket stage)|Centaur]] upper stage of the rocket used to launch Surveyor continued on its original trajectory past the Moon, placing it into a solar orbit similar to that of the Earth. The Centaur was untracked from that point forward. In August 2020, NASA announced the sighting of an object in a solar orbit which could shortly make a close pass with the Earth.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2020%20SO;old=0;orb=0;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#cad|title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser}}</ref> On September 23, 2020, NASA announced that this was likely the lost Centaur booster, and likely to be re-captured into Earth orbit. This would be the second time that a rocket upper stage has done so, after [[J002E3|the upper stage of a Saturn V rocket]] from the [[Apollo 12]] launch re-entered Earth orbit in 2002.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.space.com/earth-minimoon-2020-so-may-be-vintage-space-junk|title=Earth may get a new minimoon — but it may just be 1960s space junk|author=Meghan Bartels|date=September 23, 2020|website=Space.com}}</ref> In December 2020, NASA confirmed that it was the lost Centaur stage.<ref name="NASA-20201202">{{cite web|title=New Data Confirm 2020 SO to be the Upper Centaur Rocket Booster from the 1960's|url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-data-confirm-2020-so-to-be-the-upper-centaur-rocket-booster-from-the-1960-s|publisher=NASA|date=2 December 2020|access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref>

{{Commons category}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Solar System|Spaceflight}}
* [[List of artificial objects on the Moon]]
* [[List of missions to the Moon]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*Labeled [[Lunar Orbiter 4]] photograph showing the Surveyor 2 crash site: [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/images/aimg/iv_114_h1.jpg IV-114-H1] 
*[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19680009188/downloads/19680009188.pdf Surveyor 2 flight performance Final report - Jan 1967 (PDF)]
*[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19690027073/downloads/19690027073.pdf Surveyor Program Results (PDF) 1969]

{{Lunar landers}}
{{Surveyor program|before=[[Surveyor 1]]|after=[[Surveyor 3]]}}
{{Orbital launches in 1966}}
{{NASA space program}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2014}}

[[Category:Surveyor program (NASA)|2]]
[[Category:Spacecraft launched in 1966]]
[[Category:Missions to the Moon]]
[[Category:Spacecraft launched by Atlas-Centaur rockets]]
[[Category:Spacecraft that impacted the Moon]]
[[Category:1966 on the Moon]]