In early November of 1967, a dramatic night launch of an Atlas Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral lofted the successful Surveyor 6 spacecraft toward the Moon. The Surveyor series of robotic probes carried out the first US lunar soft landings in preparation for the Apollo program. Still in use today, Atlas Centaur rockets launched many lunar and planetary probes in the 60s and 70s.
On This Day in Space History
On November 3, 1957, Laika became the first animal to orbit Earth aboard Sputnik 2.
