Apollo 12 Mission
Mission Overview
Mission Plan
The mission plan for Apollo 12, the second lunar landing mission, had several objectives for the crew to accomplish: perform a survey of the area and collect samples; deploy a number of experiments; develop techniques for point landing capability; further develop the capability to work in the lunar environment; and obtain photographs of candidate exploration sites.
Mission Event List and Timeline
EVENT DATE TIME (EST) MISSION TIME Launch November 14 11:22:00 am 00:00:00 Translunar injection 2:15:14 pm 02:53:14 CSM-LM docking 2:48:53 pm 03:26:53 Lunar orbit insertion November 17 10:47:23 pm 83:25:23 CSM-LM separation November 18 11:16:03 pm 107:54:03 Lunar landing November 19 1:54:35 am 110:32:35 First EVA 6:32:35 am 115:10:35 Second EVA 10:54:45 pm 131:32:45 Lunar liftoff November 20 9:25:47 am 142:03:47 LM-CSM docking 12:58:22 pm 145:30:22 Transearth injection November 21 3:49:16 pm 172:27:16 Splashdown November 24 3:58:24 pm 244:36:24
Launch
The huge, 363-foot tall Apollo 12 (Spacecraft 108/Lunar Module 6/Saturn 507) space
vehicle was launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, at 11:22 a.m.,
November 14, 1969. Activities during Earth-orbit checkout were normal except for the
special attention given to checking all spacecraft systems for any damage due to lightning
strikes on the vehicle during the launch.
Spacecraft
Crew Charles Conrad Jr., Mission Commander, was born on June 2, 1930, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Princeton University in 1953. Chosen with the second group of astronauts in 1962, he was the pilot of Gemini 5, backup command pilot for Gemini 8, command pilot for Gemini 11, and backup commander for Apollo 9. As Mission Commander on Apollo 12, he became the third man to walk on the Moon. Later he was the commander of Skylab 2. He resigned from NASA and the Navy (were he held the rank of captain) on February 1, 1974. |
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Richard F. Gordon, Command Module Pilot, was born on October 5, 1929, in Seattle, Washington. He received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Washington in 1951. Gordon came to NASA from the Navy, in the third group of astronauts chosen in 1963. He was the backup pilot on Gemini 8, the pilot for Gemini 11, and back-up command module pilot for Apollo 9. He was also the backup commander for Apollo 15 before retiring from NASA and the Navy on January 1, 1972. | |
Alan L. Bean, Lunar Module Pilot,was born on March 15, 1932, in Wheeler, Texas. He received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas in 1955. He was chosen in the third group of astronauts in 1963, and was backup command pilot for Gemini 10 and backup lunar module pilot on Apollo 9. He was the fourth man to walk on the Moon. Later he was the commander for Skylab 3 and backup commander for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. He retired from NASA on June 26, 1981. |
The Back-up Crew
The following astronauts were the back-up crew for Apollo 12: David R. Scott (pilot of
Gemini 8 and command module pilot on Apollo 9) was backup commander, Alfred M. Worden was
the backup command module pilot, and James B. Irwin was the backup lunar module pilot.