October 20, 1996
Even the most precise clock in the world cannot measure how unlikely your existence really is.
Surveyor Slides
Birthday · October 20, 1996
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published October 20, 1996. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
"Safe!" -- In September 1967 (during regular season play), while making a successful soft landing on the Moon's Mare Tranquillitatis, the Surveyor 5 lander actually slid several feet. Equipped with television cameras and some soil sampling experiments, the US Surveyor spacecraft were intended to determined if the lunar surface at chosen locations was suitable for manned landings. Surveyor 5 touched down on the inside edge of a small crater inclined at about 20 degrees. Its footpad slipped and dug the trench visible in the picture. Covered with lunar soil, the footpad is about 20 inches in diameter.