On this night in science
A pinpoint landing on the Moon
November 19, 1969
On this day in 1969, astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed on the Moon so precisely that they could walk over to an older robot spacecraft, Surveyor 3, which had landed there more than two years before. They brought some of its parts home, so scientists could see how the Moon had changed them.
Why it mattered
Landing right on target showed that later astronauts could aim for exactly the places scientists most wanted to explore.
Wonder together
If you found something that had been sitting on the Moon for two years, what would you want to know about it?