November 10, 2015
APOLLO 12
Apollo 12 was the sixth manned flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon (an H type mission). It was launched on November 14, 1969 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, four months after Apollo 11. Mission commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean performed just over one day and seven hours of lunar surface activity while Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon remained in lunar orbit. The landing site for the mission was located in the southeastern portion of the Ocean of Storms.
Crew
Commander Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr.
Third spaceflight
Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon, Jr.
Second and last spaceflight
Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean
First spaceflight
Third spaceflight
Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon, Jr.
Second and last spaceflight
Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean
First spaceflight
Flight directors
Gerry Griffin, Gold team
Pete Frank, Orange team
Cliff Charlesworth, Green team
Milton Windler, Maroon team
Pete Frank, Orange team
Cliff Charlesworth, Green team
Milton Windler, Maroon team
Lightning Strike
The Apollo 12 Saturn V lifted off at 11:22 AM Eastern Standard Time. The rocket disappeared into the base of the cloud. Observers on the ground saw two bright blue flashes in the area where the rocket had been. 36 seconds after launch, the unthinkable had occurred. Lightening had struck the spacecraft. 16 seconds later the rocket was struck by lightening for a second time.
Conrad radioed,"We just lost the platform gang. I don't know what happened here; we had everything in the world drop out."
Caution and warning lights on the command module control panel lit up like a Christmas tree.
At the time people in mission control were not sure what had happened. They were not aware of the lightening strike. Their telemetry screens were reading gibberish. This situation had never been planned for in simulations. The flight controller in charge of the electrical systems for the Command and Service Module, John Aaron, remembered an event that inadvertently had happened a year previously.
Technicians accidentally powered up the space vehicle using only a single battery during a test sequence. This resulted in the same type of gibberish telemetry that he now saw on Apollo 12. Aaron told the capsule communicator to have Astronaut Bean turn a switch, known as the Signal Condition Equipment switch, to auxiliary.
The capsule communicator radioed, "Apollo 12, Houston. Try SCE to auxiliary. Over."
This selected a backup power supply and telemetry from the rocket was restored.
Despite the problems the Saturn V continued its flight. After the first stage dropped off and the second stage took over.
Conrad radioed, "Okay, now we will straighten put our problems here. I don't know what happened; I'm not sure we didn't get hit by lightening."
Spacecraft systems knocked off line were reactivated and Apollo 12 safely reached orbit. Decisive action by Flight Controller Aaron and Astronaut Bean had saved the rocket.
Right on target
Apollo 12 was using a new technique of analyzing orbital data and three powerful tracking stations on Earth to get better navigational information. Prior to the launch the trajectory engineer asked Astronaut Conrad where he wanted to land in relationship to Surveyor III. Conrad, unsure of the precision of the navigation, asked to be targeted for the middle of the crater where Surveyor III had landed.
Much to Conrad's surprise, when they neared the surface of the Moon, Intrepid was headed directly for the center of Surveyor crater. Conrad remarked
"Hey it's started right for the center of the crater..."
Astronaut Conrad took over manual control of the vehicle and maneuvered to the edge of the crater. If they had landed directly in the center of the crater it would have been too close to Surveyor III.
During Conrad's first few moments on the surface he told Bean,
"Guess what I see sitting on the side of the crater." Bean responded, "The old Surveyor, huh?" Conrad confirmed, "The old Surveyor; yes sir. Does that look neat? It can't be any farther than 600 feet from here. How about that?"
Not so serious
Conrad was really enjoying himself on the surface. As he loped about, he hummed,
"Dum dum, tunk-e tunk-e tum. Trying to learn to move faster. Pretty good. Hey, I feel great." Later an exuberant Conrad added, "De-dum dum dum. I feel like Bugs Bunny."
TV camera was broken
One of Bean's first tasks on the surface was to remove the television camera from its position on the lunar module and reposition it on the surface. While he was doing this, Bean pointed the camera into the Sun. Sadly this burned out the camera rendering it useless for the rest of the mission.
I remember being tremendously disappointed when that happened. I was in my usual roost, perched in front of our black and white television, captivated by the second exploration of the lunar surface. Suddenly, less than an hour into the EVA, the images were gone. We would not witness Conrad and Bean examining Surveyor III. We could only hear the words.
Bean was instructed to try and fix the camera by tapping it with his hammer. He radioed,
"I hit it on the top with my hammer. I figured we didn't have a thing to lose. I just pounded it on the top with this hammer that I've got." The capsule communicator in Houston joked, "Skillful fix, Al." Bean agreed, "Yes, that's skilled craftsmanship."
Flag was difficultly put up
Conrad and Bean erected an American flag on the lunar surface. There was some difficulty in doing that. The rod that was supposed to hold the flag outstretched on the airless Moon would not cooperate so the flag draped down at an angle. Conrad radioed,
"Okay, the flag is up. We hope everyone down there is as proud of it as we are to put it up."
Conrad then requested Bean to take a photo of him with the flag saying,
"Can we have a quickie here?"
One of the more striking color images to come from Apollo 12 was a photograph that Bean took of Conrad with the flag.
Thermonuclear reactor was difficult to extract
A thermonuclear reactor using radioactive plutonium powered ALSEP. The plutonium gave off heat that was converted into electricity by thermocouples. Conrad and Bean had a great deal of difficulty extracting the plutonium fuel element from its holder on the Lunar Module.
After struggling with it for some time, Conrad resorted to tapping on the side of the container while Bean pulled on the element. That finally loosened it and Bean extracted the element. Bean commented, "Keep it going baby. That hammer's a universal tool." Later Bean stated, "Hey, don't ever - don't ever come to the Moon without a hammer."
Surveyor 3 was waiting for them
Conrad and Bean achieved a precise landing at their expected location, the site of the Surveyor 3 unmanned probe, which had landed on April 20, 1967. On November 20, 1969 Conrad and Bean were on the lunar surface for their second EVA.
The astronauts bounded their way into the crater for a close up inspection of Surveyor. They found that it was not white as it had been when it left the Earth but was tan or brown. It seemed to the astronauts that the dust kicked up by their lunar landing must have blanketed the dormant Surveyor with a layer of dust.
The astronauts bounded their way into the crater for a close up inspection of Surveyor. They found that it was not white as it had been when it left the Earth but was tan or brown. It seemed to the astronauts that the dust kicked up by their lunar landing must have blanketed the dormant Surveyor with a layer of dust.
Conrad and Bean removed parts off of Surveyor to bring back to Earth for analysis. Scientists were interested to find out how the long-term exposure to the space environment had affected the materials. Items brought back from Surveyor, included Surveyors television camera, metal tubing, electrical wiring, and the scoop with which it dug in the lunar surface.
Who would know ?
On November 20, 1969, about 6.5 hours after their final EVA ended; Conrad and Bean fired the ascent engine on Intrepid and the ascent stage lifted off from the Moon. Intrepid headed for a rendezvous with Yankee Clipper.
Typically the mission commander flew Lunar Module. The Lunar Module Pilot assists by observing and reporting readings from the instruments. When they were on the far side of the Moon, Conrad asked Bean if he would like to fly the Lunar Module.
Of course Bean did want to fly the Lunar Module but told Conrad that the people in Mission Control would not like the variance from procedures. Commander Conrad's response to Lunar Module Pilot Bean was that they were on the backside of the Moon, out of communication from Earth, who would know? So Alan Bean became the first and perhaps only Lunar Module Pilot to actually fly the Lunar Module.
Naked in the command module
Intrepid rendezvoused and was docked with Yankee Clipper. When Gordon opened the hatch, he saw that Conrad and Bean were covered with lunar dust. Desiring to maintain a clean ship, Gordon requested Conrad and Bean to strip out of their clothing and clean up before they could come on board the command module. Conrad said,
"Listen we're so filthy dirty, I can't believe it." Gordon responded, "Why don't you take those suits off over there?"
240,000 miles away from Earth, Conrad and Bean entered the command module, the way they came into the world, naked.