Surveyor 3 photograph: April 1967 (taken 2½ years after the landing by Apollo 12 Astronaut Alan Bean)

Nov. 1969 Surveyor 3 was the third lander of an unmanned U.S. probe sent to explore the surface of the Moon in 1967. It transmitted 6,315 TV images of the Moon back to Earth. Almost three years later in November of 1969, the Apollo 12 mission landed its Lunar Excursion Module on the Moon’s surface just walking distance from Surveyor 3, which was remarkably intact. Astronaut Alan Bean walked the short distance from the LEM and shot this photo of Surveyor 3’s leg. The photo shows the Moon’s powdery surface. Patterns in the sand indicate that Surveyor 3 bounced twice when it landed (first bounce about 35 feet, second bounce 11 feet) because the engines failed to cut off at the right time because reflective rocks confused the lunar descent radar.