NASA's $350 million Surveyor program has already tested the bearing strength of the lunar surface and scouted all the proposed flatland target sites for the U.S.'s first manned moon mission. This was accomplished spectacularly in four out of six shots; Surveyor's budget authorized seven. What to do with the last moon robot? As a sort of job-end bonus for a mission brilliantly accomplished, NASA left it up to a panel of lunar experts. They decided to gamble on an exploratory shot to one of the moon's unknown upland regions: the rock-strewn ridges...
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