The Surveyor B spacecraft is scheduled to be launched during the period from September 20 to September 23, 1966. This is the second of a series of seven flights intended to develop the technology of soft landing on the moon and to provide basic scientific and engineering data in support of Apollo. Surveyor B will continue the evaluation of the lunar surface begun with the successful landing of Surveyor I on June 2, 1966. The aiming point selected for the Surveyor B landing is in Sinus Medii, centered on the Lunar Orbiter A photographic site A-5, coordinates 0 deg 25 min S latitude and l deg 20 min W longitude. Whereas the Surveyor I landing site was chosen to minimize the degree of gravity turn required (the approach angle was within 6 deg of the local vertical), the Surveyor B landing site will require a gravity turn of about 23 deg. The successful accomplishment of a soft landing under these off-vertical approach conditions will be a significant step toward demonstrating the ability of the Surveyor system to land in the eastern quadrant of the moon. In view of the widely separated landing sites for Surveyor I and Surveyor B, the comparative data on the lunar surface characteristics should be of great scientific importance and extremely valuable to the Apollo Project.
Surveyor Lunar Flight Project, Mission B
1966
31 pages
Report
No indication
English
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