... In September 1967 ( during regular season play ), the Surveyor 5 lander actually slid several feet while making a successful soft landing on the Moon's Mare Tranquillitatis. Equipped with television cameras and soil sampling experiments, the US Surveyor spacecraft were intended to determine if the lunar surface at chosen locations was safe for the planned Apollo landings . ... Publications with keywords: Surveyor - spacecraft - Moon . Publications with words: Surveyor - spacecraft - Moon . ...