Key Takeaways:
- Apollo 12, featuring astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean, successfully executed a precision lunar landing in Oceanus Procellarum on November 19, 1969, five days post-launch.
- During their Extravehicular Activities (EVAs), the astronauts collected rock and soil samples and deployed an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP), which included a solar wind collector, seismometer, and magnetometer.
- A specific mission objective involved visiting the previously deployed Surveyor 3 lander and retrieving several of its components for subsequent terrestrial study.
- After spending approximately 31.5 hours on the Moon, the crew returned to the orbiting Command Module and safely splashed down on Earth on November 24.
Five days after their Nov. 14, 1969, launch amid stormy skies, Apollo 12’s Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed on the Moon in Oceanus Procellarum (the Ocean of Storms). Part of Apollo 12’s mission was to demonstrate improvements to the precision of lunar landings, and Conrad piloted the Intrepid Lunar Module to a pinpoint landing on Nov. 19. While their crewmate Richard Gordon remained in the Command Module (Yankee Clipper) above them, Conrad and Bean began the first of their two moonwalks. Conrad descended the ladder from the LM first, and as he stepped onto the Moon quipped, “Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that’s a long one for me.”
Although Bean accidentally pointed their color TV camera at the Sun, damaging it, both the Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) were otherwise successful. The astronauts collected rock and soil samples and deployed their Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP), which included a solar wind collector, and seismometer, and a magnetometer. They also visited the Surveyor 3 unmanned lander (which had been on the Moon since 1967), retrieving several components of the spacecraft to return to Earth for study. After 31 and a half hours on the Moon (nearly eight hours of those spent in EVAs), Intrepid lifted off and re-docked with Yankee Clipper. The crew safely splashed down back on Earth on Nov. 24.
