Surveyor

Series of seven US crewless Moon landers launched 1966–68 that paved the way for the Apollo project. Each craft was equipped with television cameras and a scoop for examining lunar soil. Surveyor 1 landed in the Ocean of Storms in June 1966, becoming the first US spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon. With the exceptions of Surveyor 2 and Surveyor 4, all the landings were successful. Surveyor 3, which landed in the Ocean of Storms in April 1967, was visited by the crew of Apollo 12 in November 1969.