Geological Chronicle
Surveyor crater is a small impact feature spanning 0.2 kilometers across in Oceanus Procellarum. The crater first gained prominence on April 20, 1967, when the uncrewed Surveyor 3 spacecraft touched down inside its eastern rim during the American robotic exploration campaign.
During the Apollo 12 mission on November 19, 1969, the crater served as a primary visual landmark as astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean steered the Lunar Module Intrepid to a touchdown just north of its rim. The astronauts later walked down to the Surveyor 3 hardware, inspecting the craft and collecting geologic samples across the depression, which was the largest crater at the landing site.
Surrounding landmarks include Head crater to the west, Bench and Sharp craters to the southwest, Halo crater to the south, and Block crater along the northeast rim. Apollo 12 investigators documented angular, vesicular basalt blocks at Block crater derived from earlier impact ejecta, while field traverses retrieved ilmenite and pigeonite basalts alongside regolith breccia across the rim and interior slopes.