... and then Apollo 12 targeted one of the earlier Surveyor probes (which had successfully done its own automated moon landing in the mid-1960s!), and the guida

... and then Apollo 12 targeted one of the earlier Surveyor probes (which had successfully done its own automated moon landing in the mid-1960s!), and the guidance system had it coming down very close to the earlier probe -- astronaut Pete Conrad manually overrode it to make sure they stayed a safe distance away. There had been upgrades to software and procedures since Apollo 11 -- most notably, a new guidance parameter the astronauts could enter ("noun 69") to correct for deviations between the planned lunar orbit and the one in which the spacecraft actually was, before descent. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmindell/2019/11/19/apollo-12s-50th-anniversary-the-power-of-precision/?sh=252b608179fa https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmindell/2019/11/19/apollo-...