Surveyor 2
Surveyor 2 was NASA's second Surveyor lunar soft-landing attempt, carrying a television camera and targeting Sinus Medii. After launch on September 20, 1966, one of its three thrusters failed to ignite during a course correction, setting the spacecraft spinning. Attempts to recover control failed, communications ceased during the landing sequence, and the spacecraft crashed on the Moon.
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Identity
- Aliases
- Surveyor IISurveyor-B1966-084A
- Name
- Surveyor 2
- Status
- failed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- Surveyor 2 was NASA's second Surveyor lunar soft-landing attempt, carrying a television camera and targeting Sinus Medii. After launch on September 20, 1966, one of its three thrusters failed to ignite during a course correction, setting the spacecraft spinning. Attempts to recover control failed, communications ceased during the landing sequence, and the spacecraft crashed on the Moon.
- Destination
- Failed lunar soft landing; a thruster failure caused an uncontrolled spin and crash near Copernicus crater
- End Date
- 1966-09-23
- Outcome
- The planned soft landing and surface imaging were not achieved after a course-correction thruster failure caused loss of attitude control.
- Programs
- Start Date
- 1966-09-20
- Vehicle Families
Links
- Official Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/surveyor-2/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 14, 2026 at 18:21:53 UTC
- Updated Time
- October 17, 2026 at 14:01:55 UTC
Other
- Affiliations
- -
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles