Which Apollo mission retrieved a piece of the Surveyor 3 spacecraft?

Which Apollo mission retrieved a piece of the Surveyor 3 spacecraft? Apollo 12. During its second lunar excursion on November 19, 1969, astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean walked to Surveyor 3 and removed components for return to Earth.

Surveyor 3 had landed in the Ocean of Storms in April 1967, more than two years before Apollo 12 arrived. NASA deliberately targeted a landing site near the probe so scientists could study how lunar dust, radiation, vacuum, and extreme temperature changes affected hardware over time. Apollo 12 landed roughly 600 feet from Surveyor 3, making the visit possible.

Conrad and Bean recovered the spacecraft's television camera, soil scoop, sections of tubing, and other parts. The camera was examined in laboratories after its return and is now associated with the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum collection.

The mission is sometimes remembered mainly for Conrad's colorful first words on the Moon, but its precision landing and visit to Surveyor 3 were major engineering and scientific achievements. Apollo 11 had landed successfully, yet Apollo 12 demonstrated that crews could navigate accurately to a planned site and conduct a targeted investigation.