A difficult descent
Highly reflective rocks confused my descent radar as I approached the lunar surface. At about 14 feet (4.3 metres) above the ground, my main engine failed to cut off at the correct moment. Instead of stopping gently, I struck the surface and bounced.
My first rebound carried me to about 33 feet (10 metres). The second lifted me to about 10 feet (3 metres). On the third contact, I finally settled into a soft landing at 00:04:17 UT on April 20, 1967.
Why this mattered
Less than an hour after landing, I began transmitting images of my surroundings. The rough touchdown became part of the mission record, but I had survived the sequence and was ready to begin surface operations.
Mission facts on this page are drawn from the supplied NASA mission record and Asif A. Siddiqi, Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (NASA History Program Office, 2018). Surveyor 3 · NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory mission.