Surveyor Crater

"I See the Surveyor!"
During the first few hours after landing, while he and Bean had a quick meal and began preparations for the first of two 4-hour EVAs, Conrad spent more than a little time trying to figure out just where he'd landed. It was a bit of a puzzle. The landmarks which had been so obvious during the approach weren't at all obvious from the ground. Looking west out the window, he and Bean saw an undulating and otherwise featureless plain. Among other things, there was no obvious sign of the Snowman's Head. Head Crater is about two hundred meters in diameter and should have been right in front of them. However, as they became accustomed to the subtleties of the view, they began to realize that there was, in fact, a big crater practically staring them in the face. They hadn't recognized it because they were back a bit from the east rim and were looking directly away from the early morning sun. There was a shadow in the bottom of Head Crater, but it was hidden by the near rim. There was also a lack of color variation in the scene and that, too, made the crater hard to see. However, once they realized that there was a big crater in front of them, they quickly decided that it had to be the Snowman's Head. If so, then Surveyor Crater had to be right behind them. Conrad jammed himself forward against his window as tightly as he could, probably wishing he had a rear window or at least a rear-facing mirror, and tried to peer as far around the back as possible. He was rewarded with a glimpse of the telltale slope of another large crater.
Fittingly, it was Dick Gordon, traveling overhead in the Command Module Yankee Clipper, who nailed down the landing coordinates. As he made his second post-landing pass, he put his eye to the sextant in hopes of getting a glimpse of the LM, a feat that Collins had never managed. Of course, Gordon had a real advantage in that he knew where Intrepid was supposed to be. As he picked up the Snowman, it wasn't long until he spotted the LM's fifty-meter shadow.

"I have him," he said. "He's on the Surveyor Crater; he's about a fourth of a Surveyor Crater diameter to the northwest...I'll tell you, he's the only thing that casts a shadow down there."

In seconds, he was directly overhead. "The Intrepid is just on the left shoulder of the Snowman. He is looking at me. He is about a third of the way from the Surveyor Crater to the (Snowman's) Head."

Then he really got excited. "I see the Surveyor! I see the Surveyor! Hey! That's almost as good as being there."

Now there was no doubt. Not only had Gordon seen the LM but he'd seen the Surveyor itself. Conrad and Bean had landed right on target and, thanks to Ewen Whitaker, they'd even been sent to the right crater! This was going to be fun.