Surveyor 1 launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Surveyor series of missions is the first U.S. effort to make a soft landing on the Moon. The missions will test a new high-energy Atlas/Centaur rocket and a new spacecraft design; two-way communications to control spacecraft activities from the ground; and a new and elegant landing method, with three steerable rocket engines controlled by onboard radar.

See also: National Space Science Data Center

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