SURVEYOR: TESTING THE SURFACE
Of the seven Surveyors launched from 1966 through 1968, five landed successfully. They transmitted to Earth almost 88,000 television pictures of the lunar surface, sampled the lunar soil (using the scoop on the extended arm), and performed chemical analyses of the soil as well as other scientific experiments. Surveyor confirmed that the lunar surface could support a landing craft and that astronauts would be able to walk on the Moon.
The Surveyor lander displayed here was used for tests on Earth.
Transferred from NASA

Designing Surveyor to soft on the Moon required an extensive program of testing. Shown here are NASA and industry program managers with an engineering test vehicle.

Surveyor Specifications:
Height: 3 m (10 ft)
Width: 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in)
Weight (at landing): 283 kg (625 lb)
Manufacturer: Hughes Aircraft Corp. Launch vehicle: Atlas-Centaur #

SURVEYOR FIRSTS
First U.S. soft-landing on the Moon (Surveyor 1)
First color pictures from the surface of the Moon (Surveyor 1)
First "dig" on an extraterrestrial body (Surveyor 3)
First color pictures of Earth from the Moon (Surveyor 3)
First on-site chemical analysis of lunar soil (Surveyor 5)
First launch from the Moon (Surveyor 6)

A Laboratory on the Moon