A section of NASA Surveyor 7 film displayed in an informational acrylic case.
This section of 16mm film is from a reel of original NASA footage shot in 1967. We recently acquired it from a retired NASA engineer and had it preserved for posterity.
In the 29 minute film, technicians can be seen assembling components of the Surveyor 7 lunar lander in a cleanroom at Kennedy Space Center.
The Surveyor program consisted of 7 spacecraft launched in the 1960’s to practice landing on the moon and evaluate the lunar surface in preparation for the Apollo program. Five of the spacecraft landed safely on the moon, including Surveyor 7.
Surveyor 7 landed on the rim of Tycho crater, which is easily visible from Earth.
NASA has a long history of filming every step of spacecrafts journeys from assembly to launch. In the case of a mission failure, these films can be reviewed to help identify the source of the failure.
