Robots arrived on the Moon long before any humans stepped onto its dusty, gray
plains.
During the 1960s, NASA sent a series of robotic probes to the Moon to make
sure its surface was solid and safe for the human astronauts that followed.
Seven of these Surveyor probes were launched between 1966 and 1968, each equipped
to with television cameras to examine the lunar terrain.
Pictured here is Surveyor 3 (left) posing with Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad
in 1969. The second robot to land safely on the Moon - Surveyor 2, crashed.
Surveyor 3 landed April 20, 1967, carrying its camera as well as engineering
and landing sensors, auxiliary mirrors and a surface sampler. The robot actually
landed three separate times because its engines continued to fire during touchdown.
It fell silent on May 4, 1967.
Two years later, Conrad and fellow Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean set their
own lunar lander about 590 feet (180 meters) away from Surveyor 3. They walked
out to the robot during their second moonwalk. In addition to this picture,
the astronauts took 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of Surveyor 3's parts home to Earth
with them for examination. The robot's television camera was mounted in the
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
