Chapter III: Television observations from Surveyor III

Abstract

Surveyor III landed on the lunar surface at 00:04 GMT, on Day 110 (April 20), 1967, approximately 23 h after local sunrise on the moon. The television camera was turned on about 1 h after touchdown, and 6315 pictures were taken during the remainder of the lunar day. The camera was operated extensively for the first period of lunar visibility from the Goldstone Tracking Station of the Deep Space Network (DSN) and, except on Day 115 (April 25), on each successive Goldstone pass of the moon. During this period, the sun rose from an elevation angle of 11 deg in the east to within 3 deg of the zenith and then sank almost due west of the spacecraft. Many pictures were obtained of the illuminated eastern horizon in the period immediately preceding sunset. In addition to those received at the Goldstone station, some were obtained at the Canberra, Australia, station of the DSN.