Astronomy Picture of the Day . ... 5.12.1998 . ... Credit: The Surveyor Project, NASA Explanation: This panorama of the cratered lunar surface was constructed from images returned by the US Surveyor 6 lander. Surveyor 6 was not the first spacecraft to accomplish a soft landing on the Moon ... but it was the first to land and then lift off again! ... December 1998 . ... Publications with keywords: surveyor 6 - Moon . ... Apollo 17: Shorty Crater Panorama . ... Apollo 11: East Crater Panorama . ...