On June 2, 1966, NASA's Surveyor 1 landed on the lunar surface to become the first American spacecraft to land on the moon.
Surveyor 1 took more than 11,000 photos of the moon along with other measurements, but, more importantly, proved that NASA's soft-landing technique and spacecraft designs were sound. NASA scientists thought that the landing of a space probe would’ve taken many tries, but were surprised by its success on the first. This came as a delightful shock as only four months earlier, the Soviet Union ultimately reached a successful landing of their Luna 9 probe after multiple failed attempts. The mission set the stage for the first manned lunar landing by Apollo 11 just three years later in 1969.
Surveyor 1 took more than 11,000 photos of the moon along with other measurements, but, more importantly, proved that NASA's soft-landing technique and spacecraft designs were sound. NASA scientists thought that the landing of a space probe would’ve taken many tries, but were surprised by its success on the first. This came as a delightful shock as only four months earlier, the Soviet Union ultimately reached a successful landing of their Luna 9 probe after multiple failed attempts. The mission set the stage for the first manned lunar landing by Apollo 11 just three years later in 1969.
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TechTranscript
00:00 On this day in space.
00:03 Today in space, June 2nd.
00:06 In 1966, NASA's Surveyor 1 landed on the lunar surface,
00:10 becoming the first American spacecraft to land on the moon.
00:13 Surveyor 1 took more than 11,000 photos of the moon,
00:16 along with other measurements, but more importantly proved that
00:19 NASA's soft landing technique and spacecraft designs were sound.
00:22 NASA scientists thought that the landing of a space probe would have taken many tries,
00:26 but were surprised by its success on the first.
00:29 This came as a delightful shock, as only four months earlier,
00:32 the Soviet Union finally made a successful landing with their Luna 9 probe,
00:35 after multiple failed attempts.
00:38 The mission set the stage for the first crewed lunar landing by Apollo 11,
00:41 just three years later, in 1969.
00:44 And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:47 [ music ]