On This Day in Space! June 2, 1966: Surveyor 1 becomes 1st American spacecraft to soft-land on the moon, ,

On June 2, 1966, NASA’s Surveyor 1 reached the lunar surface and became the first American spacecraft to successfully execute a soft landing 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.

Surveyor 1: NASA’s 1st Lunar Landing Success in Pictures

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NASA’s Surveyor 1 moon lander photographs its shadow on the lunar surface in this image taken after the probe’s historic landing on June 2, 1966. (Image credit: NASA/JPL)

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 crewed lunar landing by Apollo 11 just three years later in 1969.

Catch up on our entire “On This Day In Space” series on YouTube with this playlist.

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