Apollo 12

Spacecraft· NASAinactive

Apollo 12 — the second Moon landing (November 1969). Pete Conrad and Alan Bean touched down in the Ocean of Storms, walking to the Surveyor 3 probe that had landed there two years earlier.

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Key facts

Distance from Sun

1.02 AU

Status

Completed

Launched

1969

Mission & specifications

Mission

Operator: NASA
Launched: November 14, 1969
Status: Completed

Trajectory

Distance from the Sun: 1.02 AU
Distance from Earth: 0.526 AU
Distance from Venus: 0.322 AU

Mission

Apollo 12 was the programme's second Moon landing, and it proved the first had been no fluke. Launched on 14 November 1969 into a rainstorm, the Saturn V was struck by lightning twice in the first minute, briefly knocking the Command Module's systems offline — a quick-thinking flight controller's call to flip an obscure switch ('SCE to Auxiliary') saved the mission before it had even left the atmosphere. Commander Pete Conrad, the third person to walk on the Moon, and Alan Bean landed with pinpoint precision in the Ocean of Storms, touching down within walking distance of Surveyor 3, an uncrewed probe that had soft-landed there two and a half years earlier. The two moonwalkers visited the old spacecraft and cut pieces from it to bring home, letting engineers study how its materials had weathered the lunar environment. Conrad and Bean made two excursions and deployed a nuclear-powered science station over a day and a half on the surface. Where Apollo 11 had been a triumph of arrival, Apollo 12 was a triumph of precision — proof that astronauts could land exactly where scientists wanted them.

1969Launch through a stormLaunch
Lightning strikes the Saturn V twice after liftoff; a quick call ('SCE to Auxiliary') restores the spacecraft's systems.
1969Pinpoint landing by Surveyor 3Milestone
Conrad and Bean touch down in the Ocean of Storms within walking distance of the Surveyor 3 probe.
1969Visiting an old spacecraftMilestone
The crew cut parts from Surveyor 3 to bring home, to study how they weathered two years on the Moon.
1969SplashdownMission end
The second Moon landing proves astronauts can land exactly where scientists choose.

Images

Pete Conrad at Surveyor 3, the Lunar Module Intrepid beyond — NASA (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons

Twelve and Twenty — artist's impression, not a photograph — NASA/JPL-Caltech · NASA Image Library

APOLLO XII - COUNTDOWN DEMONSTRATION TEST (CDDT) - KSC — NASA/JSC · NASA Image Library

Apollo 12 Mission image - View of the Surveyor III craft,which landed April 19,1967 — NASA/JSC · NASA Image Library

Official insignia of Apollo 12 — NASA/JSC · NASA Image Library

View of the Earth seen from the Apollo 12 spacecraft — NASA/JSC · NASA Image Library

Images from open archives · credit shown per image