Amazing Apollo 12 Facts That You Probably Won T Believe

The Apollo mission was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo Program.The prime three astronauts of the Apollo 12 were commander Charles Pete Conrad, Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon, and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean. The Apollo 12 mission crew launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on the morning of November 14, 1969, into rainy skies.Bean and Conrad landed their lunar module successfully about 175 yds (160 m) away from the probe. During the history-making landing of the Apollo 11 mission that took place four months earlier than the Apollo 12 mission, astronaut Neil Armstrong had to take semi-manual control of the lunar module and steer it away from a hazardous boulder field and crater. They did this even though two lightning strikes on the spacecraft launch vehicle disabled their electric power and guidance systems. The first lightning strike at 36.5 seconds resulted in all the three fuel cells in the service module going off.However, the trio’s trip back to the Earth’s surface was uneventful; it ended with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on November 24.If you like this article, why not also read about Apollo 1 facts and Apollo 18 facts here on Kidadl?Apollo 12 MissionApollo 12 was the second mission to land humans on the moon and was launched on November 14, 1969, and executed as a precision landing. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean, two astronauts of NASA, landed in Oceanus Procellarum, the ‘Ocean of Storms’ on November 19, 1969. Richard Gordon, another crew member, stayed in the Lunar orbit inside the Apollo command and service module.The Apollo lunar surface experiments package comprises the scientific instruments placed by the astronauts of all the Apollo missions on the landing site of the moon landings. The main reason for the launch of the Apollo 12 mission to the lunar surface was to deploy Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP), develop the capability to work in the lunar environment, perform inspection, survey, and sampling on the lunar surface area. Another main objective was to retrieve portions of the Surveyor III spacecraft. The lunar samples, including the lunar soil and the various lunar dust particles, were brought back from the different Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972. About 842 lb (382 kg) of lunar rocks, pebbles, sand, and dust were brought back from the lunar surface through all these missions. The astronauts also brought back various instruments from Surveyor III to examine the effects of long-term exposure to the lunar environment.Apollo 12 CrewThe prime three astronauts of the Apollo 12 were commander Charles Pete Conrad, Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon, and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean. Conrad flew the lunar landing training vehicle in order to practice the landing on the moon.The mission was a successful one, and although nobody died during the mission, Clifton C. Williams Jr., who was meant to make the trip died in an unfortunate plane crash prior to the commencement of the mission. This was when Charles Pete Conrad asked for Alan L. Bean, a former student of his, to be the Lunar Module Pilot. Bean, who was previously caught up with the Apollo Applications Program, was made available by Deke Slayton, the Director of Flight Crew Operations, after William’s unfortunate demise.Did Apollo 12 land on the moon?The astronauts of the Apollo 12 made the lunar landing on November 24, 1969. They landed the Lunar Module within walking distance of the Surveyor III spacecraft. The mission duration of Apollo 12 was 244 hr 36 min 24 sec, and it stayed there on the moon for around 31 hours. The landing site of the Apollo 12 rocket was Oceanus Procellarum, the ‘Ocean of Storms’. The second Eva took place at 10:54:45 pm, and it included the collection of 73.7 lb (33.4 kg) of rock and dirt samples.What did Apollo 12 accomplish?Apollo 12 purpose was that NASA wanted to demonstrate a pinpoint landing so that it could send future Apollo crews to harder-to-reach scientific destinations. Apollo 12 launch took place on November 14, 1969. Two lightning strikes on the spacecraft launch vehicle disabled their electric power and guidance systems. The first Apollo 12 lightning strike at 36.5 seconds resulted in all the three fuel cells in the service module going off.The main reason for the launch of the Apollo 12 mission to the lunar surface was to deploy Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP), develop the capability to work in the lunar environment, inspect, survey, and sample on the lunar surface area. Another main objective was to retrieve portions of the Surveyor III spacecraft. The solar wind spectrometer is part of the Apollo 12 ALSEP package left on the moon.Pete Conrad and Alan Bean made a pinpoint touchdown near NASA’s robotic spacecraft III, which had landed there two years ago. They accomplished this with the help of Lunar Scientist Ewen Whitaker, who found the precise location of the Surveyor III spacecraft and provided the landing points location to the astronauts, thus giving them a target. During the second trip outside the lunar lander, the astronauts visited surveyor III removed its TV camera. The Yankee Clipper had two parts which were the command module and the service module. Also, the lunar module had two parts the ascent stage and the descent stage. The ascent stage was a cylindrical aluminum structure 14.07 ft (4.29 m) in diameter and 12.3 ft (3.75 m) in height. During their time on the moon, crew members lived and operated from this part of the spacecraft. The time that all navy crew spent on the lunar surface was 31 hours 31 min.Did You Know…The first mission to the moon was Apollo 11.The Apollo 11 precision landing mission to the Moon command module is located at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Air Institution.The Apollo 12 mission control was conducted by Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin Jr.The Apollo 12 command module has been put on display at the Virginia Air and Space Museum in Hampton, Virginia.The Yankee Clipper had two parts which were the command module and the service module.The clipper ship of Apollo 12 symbolically related the era of the clipper ships to that of the space flight; it also showed that the intrepid crew was all navy.The crew also stayed a day in the Earth’s orbit and the lunar orbit to take photographs of the lunar environment.Apollo 12 left its LM-6 Intrepid descent stage and LM-6 Intrepid ascent stage on the moon.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Apollo 12 facts then why not take a look at Apollo 15 facts or Apollo 10 facts.

The Apollo mission was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo Program.