+ 1970 News Releases (7.6 Mb PDF file) - NASA

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MSC 70-58
Similar tests were conducted on a Surveyor III backup TV camera
which had been retained in 'bonded' storage at Hughes Aircraft,
Pasadena, California since the April 1% 1967 launch. Test s_nplings
were made and Captain Mitchell reported the Streptococcus mitis was
not found in the backup c_mera.
Mitchell said the samples were taken by the same individuals and
the procedures were identical to the retrieved camera. The samples
were obtained from the backup c_era at the Hughes plant in California
and detailed analysis was performed on these samples at the LRL in
Houston.
Both cameras - the retrieved camera and the backup camera -
went through a series of "thermal vacuum tests" prior to the launch
of Surveyor III. These tests were performed in a vacuum with hot
and cold cycles.
In instances where repairs were needed the shroud on the
camera was removed_ the repair made_ the shroud replaced and the
camera was then subjected to another thermal vacuum test.
Mitchell said the microorganism was probably accidently deposited
on the camera during one of the times the camera shroud was removed
for
repairs.
These procedures and the high vacuum of space are thought to
have been responsible for the preservation of this organism in a
lyophilized state (freeze-dried). Investigators had predicted it
might be possible for organisms to survive under such circumstances.