Apollo Program · Second crewed lunar landing
Apollo 12
- Launch
- 1969-11-14 16:22 UTC
- Return
- 1969-11-24 20:58 UTC
- Duration
- 10 days 04 hours 36 minutes
Mission summary
Apollo 12 demonstrated that lunar landings could be flown to a precise target. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean touched down LM 'Intrepid' just 163 meters from the Surveyor 3 probe that had landed two and a half years earlier in Oceanus Procellarum. The ascent through a Florida thunderstorm produced two lightning strikes that briefly knocked out telemetry, recovered by Bean's flip of the SCE-to-AUX switch on EECOM John Aaron's call. The crew deployed the first full ALSEP science station and returned with components of Surveyor 3 for ground analysis. Dick Gordon orbited the Moon alone in the CSM 'Yankee Clipper'.
Crew
| Astronaut | Prior missions | Subsequent missions |
|---|---|---|
|
Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. Commander |
Gemini 5, Gemini 11 | Skylab 2 (1973) |
|
Richard F. Gordon Jr. Command Module Pilot |
Gemini 11 | None — final flight |
|
Alan L. Bean Lunar Module Pilot |
None (first flight) | Skylab 3 (1973) |
Launch vehicle
Saturn V SA-507
Lunar landing
Open on the surface map →- Site
- Oceanus Procellarum (near Surveyor 3)
- Coordinates
- -3.0124° lat, -23.4216° lon
- Touchdown
- 1969-11-19 06:54 UTC
- EVAs
- 2 · total 07:45:18
Objectives
- Demonstrate precision lunar landing — touch down within walking distance of the Surveyor 3 probe (landed 1967-04-20).
- Deploy the first full Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP).
- Recover hardware from Surveyor 3 for return to Earth.
- Conduct two surface EVAs and an extended geological traverse.
Milestones
| When | Event |
|---|---|
| 1969-11-14 16:22 UTC |
Launched from LC-39A through a thunderstorm. Lightning struck the Saturn V twice during ascent; the crew lost telemetry briefly but Bean's switching of the Signal Conditioning Equipment to AUX restored data and the mission continued.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo12.html |
| 1969-11-19 06:54 UTC | Conrad and Bean landed LM 'Intrepid' approximately 163 m from Surveyor 3 — the first precision lunar landing. |
| 1969-11-19 | First EVA: deployment of ALSEP science package; ~3.5 km of geological traverse. |
| 1969-11-20 | Second EVA: walked to Surveyor 3 and recovered its TV camera and other hardware for return to Earth (later showing terrestrial bacteria had survived 31 months on the lunar surface, though that finding was later contested). |
| 1969-11-24 20:58 UTC | Splashed down in the Pacific; recovered by USS Hornet. |
Primary sources
Last updated 2026-05-09 15:17 UTC.