For the second time, one of NASA’s robotic Surveyor space probes fails to make it to the moon intact. Launched three days before, Surveyor 4 – which is, coincidentally, targeted to land in roughly the same area that previous lander Surveyor 2 failed to reach – is mere minutes from the lunar surface when contact is lost. There is no means of determining what has caused the failure, though the most likely hypothesis is an explosion of the solid fuel rockets intended to slow Surveyor 4’s descent prior to landing.
theLogBook.com
https://www.theLogBook.com
Earl Green is the creator, curator, and head writer of theLogBook.com.
Also of interest...
Luna 1
January 2, 1959
Viking 2 at Deimos
October 20, 1977
Messenger: Mercury has been mapped
February 28, 2013