An unmanned American spacecraft, called Surveyor three, is now in position on the moon's surface. The device, equipped with a shovel claw to sample the moon's surface with a television camera, Wednesday (19 April) sent back numerous pictures of the area of the moon around it.

The Surveyor three spacecraft initially took more than 50 photographs. Analysis of these indicates the device landed in a shallow crater on the Eastern edge of the moon's Ocean of Storms. Officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California say the craft was only two points 4 miles away from its target point.

The primary purpose of the Surveyor is to determine, by the use of photographs and a sampling of the moon's surface, whether the area it is in might be suitable for a manned landing.

The photographs so far have shown no barriers to such a landing. Later, a small claw-like shovel attached to an extensible arm, will scrape to determine its strength.