Apollo 12

Main article: Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package

Apollo 12's Passive Seismic Experiment

The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) was a suite of scientific instruments designed to be emplaced on the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts, and thereafter operate autonomously, sending data to Earth. ^[45] Development of the ALSEP was part of NASA's response to some scientists who opposed the crewed lunar landing program (they felt that robotic craft could explore the Moon more cheaply) by demonstrating that some tasks, such as deployment of the ALSEP, required humans. ^[46] In 1966, a contract to design and build the ALSEPs was awarded to the Bendix Corporation. ^[47] Due to the limited time the Apollo 11 crew would have on the lunar surface, a smaller suite of experiments was flown, known as the Early Apollo Surface Experiment Package (EASEP). Apollo 12 was the first mission to carry an ALSEP; one would be flown on each of the subsequent lunar landing missions, though the components that were included would vary. ^[45] Apollo 12's ALSEP was to be deployed at least 300 feet (91 m) away from the LM to protect the instruments from the debris that would be generated when the ascent stage of the LM took off to return the astronauts to lunar orbit. ^[48]

Bean places the fuel element into the SNAP-27 RTG.

Apollo 12's ALSEP included a Lunar Surface Magnetometer (LSM), to measure the magnetic field at the Moon's surface, a Lunar Atmosphere Detector (LAD, also known as the Cold Cathode Gauge Experiment), intended to measure the density and temperature of the thin lunar atmosphere and how it varies, a Lunar Ionosphere Detector (LID, also known as the Suprathermal Ion Detector Experiment, or SIDE), intended to study the charged particles in the lunar atmosphere, and the Solar Wind Spectrometer, to measure the strength and direction of the solar wind at the Moon's surface—the free-standing Solar Wind Composition Experiment, to measure what makes up the solar wind, would be deployed and then brought back to Earth by the astronauts. ^[49] A Dust Detector was used to measure the accumulation of lunar dust on the equipment. ^[50] Apollo 12's Passive Seismic Experiment (PSE), a seismometer, would measure moonquakes and other movements in the Moon's crust, and would be calibrated by the nearby planned impact of the ascent stage of Apollo 12's LM, an object of known mass and velocity hitting the Moon at a known location, and projected to be equivalent to the explosive force of one ton of TNT. ^[51]

The ALSEP experiments left on the Moon by Apollo 12 were connected to a Central Station, which contained a transmitter, receiver, timer, data processor, and equipment for power distribution and control of the experiments. ^[52] The equipment was powered by SNAP-27, a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) developed by the Atomic Energy Commission. Containing plutonium, the RTG flown on Apollo 12 was the first use of atomic energy on a crewed NASA spacecraft—some NASA and military satellites had previously used similar systems. The plutonium core was brought from Earth in a cask attached to an LM landing leg, a container designed to survive re-entry in the event of an aborted mission, something NASA considered unlikely. ^[53] The cask would survive re-entry on Apollo 13, sinking in the Tonga Trench of the Pacific Ocean, apparently without radioactive leakage. ^[54]

The Apollo 12 ALSEP experiments were activated from Earth on November 19, 1969. ^[55] The LAD returned only a small amount of useful data due to the failure of its power supply soon after activation. ^[56] The LSM was deactivated on June 14, 1974, as was the other LSM deployed on the Moon, from Apollo 15. All powered ALSEP experiments that remained active were deactivated on September 30, 1977, ^[55] principally because of budgetary constraints. ^[45]

Mission highlights

Apollo 12 launches from Kennedy Space Center, November 14, 1969

Launch

With President Richard Nixon in attendance, the first time a current U.S. president had witnessed a crewed space launch, ^[57] as well as Vice President Spiro Agnew, ^[58] Apollo 12 launched as planned on November 14, 1969 from the Kennedy Space Center at 16:22:00  UTC (11:22 am  EST, local time at the launch site). This was at the start of a launch window of three hours and four minutes to reach the Moon with optimal lighting conditions at the planned landing point. ^{[59] [60]} There were completely overcast rainy skies, and the vehicle encountered winds of 151.7 knots (280.9 km/h; 174.6 mph) during ascent, the strongest of any Apollo mission. ^{[61] [ better source needed ]} There was a NASA rule against launching into a cumulonimbus cloud; this had been waived and it was later determined that the launch vehicle never entered such a cloud. ^[62] Had the mission been postponed, it could have been launched on November 16 with landing at a backup site where there would be no Surveyor, but since time pressure to achieve a lunar landing had been removed by Apollo 11's success, NASA might have waited until December for the next opportunity to go to the Surveyor crater. ^[63]

Lightning struck the Saturn V 36.5 seconds after lift-off, triggered by the vehicle itself. The static discharge caused a voltage transient that knocked all three fuel cells offline, meaning the spacecraft was being powered entirely from its batteries, which could not supply enough current to meet demand. A second strike at 52 seconds knocked out the "8-ball" attitude indicator. The telemetry stream at Mission Control was garbled, but the Saturn V continued to fly normally; the strikes had not affected the Saturn V instrument unit guidance system, which functioned independently from the CSM. The astronauts unexpectedly had a board red with caution and warning lights, but could not tell exactly what was wrong. ^{[64] [65] [66]}

The Electrical, Environmental and Consumables Manager (EECOM) in Mission Control, John Aaron, remembered the telemetry failure pattern from an earlier test when a power loss caused a malfunction in the CSM signal conditioning electronics (SCE), which converted raw signals from instrumentation to data that could be displayed on Mission Control's consoles, and knew how to fix it. ^{[65] [67]} Aaron made a call, "Flight, EECOM. Try SCE to Aux", to switch the SCE to a backup power supply. The switch was fairly obscure, and neither Flight Director Gerald Griffin, CAPCOM Gerald P. Carr, nor Conrad knew what it was; Bean, who as LMP was the spacecraft's engineer, knew where to find it and threw the switch, after which the telemetry came back online, revealing no significant malfunctions. Bean put the fuel cells back online, and the mission continued. ^{[65] [68] [69]} Once in Earth parking orbit, the crew carefully checked out their spacecraft before re-igniting the S-IVB third stage for trans-lunar injection. The lightning strikes caused no serious permanent damage. ^[70]

Initially, it was feared that the lightning strike could have damaged the explosive bolts that opened the Command Module's parachute compartment. The decision was made not to share this with the astronauts and to continue with the flight plan, since they would die if the parachutes failed to deploy, whether following an Earth-orbit abort or upon a return from the Moon, so nothing was to be gained by aborting. ^[71] The parachutes deployed and functioned normally at the end of the mission. ^[72]

Outward journey

View of Earth taken en route to the Moon

After systems checks in Earth orbit, performed with great care because of the lightning strikes, the trans-lunar injection burn, made with the S-IVB, took place at 02:47:22.80 into the mission, setting Apollo 12 on course for the Moon. An hour and twenty minutes later, the CSM separated from the S-IVB, after which Gordon performed the transposition, docking, and extraction maneuver to dock with the LM and separate the combined craft from the S-IVB, which was then sent on an attempt to reach solar orbit. ^{[73] [74]} The stage fired its engines to leave the vicinity of the spacecraft, a change from Apollo 11, where the SM's Service Propulsion System (SPS) engine was used to distance it from the S-IVB. ^[75]

As there were concerns the LM might have been damaged by the lightning strikes, Conrad and Bean entered it on the first day of flight to check its status, earlier than planned. They found no issues. At 30:52.44.36, the only necessary midcourse correction during the translunar coast was made, placing the craft on a hybrid, non-free-return trajectory. Previous crewed missions to lunar orbit had taken a free-return trajectory, allowing an easy return to Earth if the craft's engines did not fire to enter lunar orbit. Apollo 12 was the first crewed spacecraft to take a hybrid free-return trajectory, that would require another burn to return to Earth, but one that could be executed by the LM's Descent Propulsion System (DPS) if the SPS failed. The use of a hybrid trajectory allowed more flexibility in mission planning. It for example allowed Apollo 12 to launch in daylight and reach the planned landing spot on schedule. ^[76] Use of a hybrid trajectory meant that Apollo 12 took 8 hours longer to go from trans-lunar injection to lunar orbit. ^[77]

Lunar orbit and Moon landing

Lunar Module Intrepid above the Moon. The small crater in the foreground is Ammonius; the large crater at right is Herschel. Photograph by Richard F. Gordon Jr. on board the Command Module Yankee Clipper.

Apollo 12 entered a lunar orbit of 170.2 by 61.66 nautical miles (315.2 by 114.2 km; 195.9 by 70.96 mi) with an SPS burn of 352.25 seconds at mission time 83:25:26.36. On the first lunar orbit, there was a television transmission that resulted in good-quality video of the lunar surface. On the third lunar orbit, there was another burn to circularize the craft's orbit to 66.1 by 54.59 nautical miles (122.4 by 101.1 km; 76.07 by 62.82 mi), and on the next revolution, preparations began for the lunar landing. The CSM and LM undocked at 107:54:02.3; a half hour later there was a burn by the CSM to separate them. ^[78] The 14.4 second burn by some of the CSM's thrusters meant that the two craft would be 2.2 nautical miles (4.1 km; 2.5 mi) apart when the LM began the burn to move to a lower orbit in preparation for landing on the Moon. ^[79]

The LM's Descent Propulsion System began a 29-second burn at 109:23:39.9 to move the craft to the lower orbit, from which the 717-second powered descent to the lunar surface began at 110:20:38.1. ^[78] Conrad had trained to expect a pattern of craters known as "the Snowman" to be visible when the craft underwent "pitchover", with the Surveyor crater in its center, but had feared he would see nothing recognizable. He was astonished to see the Snowman right where it should be, meaning they were directly on course. He took over manual control, planning to land the LM, as he had in simulations, in an area near the Surveyor crater that had been dubbed "Pete's Parking Lot", but found it rougher than expected. He had to maneuver, ^[80] and landed the LM at 110:32:36.2 (06:54:36 UTC on November 19, 1969), just 535 feet (163 m) from the Surveyor probe. ^[81] This achieved one objective of the mission, to perform a precision landing near the Surveyor craft. ^[82]

The lunar coordinates of the landing site were 3.01239° S latitude, 23.42157° W longitude. ^[83] The landing caused high velocity sandblasting of the Surveyor probe. It was later determined that the sandblasting removed more dust than it delivered onto the Surveyor, because the probe was covered by a thin layer that gave it a tan hue as observed by the astronauts, and every portion of the surface exposed to the direct sandblasting was lightened back toward the original white color through the removal of lunar dust. ^[84]

Lunar surface activities

When Conrad, the shortest man of the initial groups of astronauts, stepped onto the lunar surface his first words were "Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me." ^[85] This was not an off-the-cuff remark: Conrad had made a US$500 bet with reporter Oriana Fallaci he would say these words, after she had queried whether NASA had instructed Neil Armstrong what to say as he stepped onto the Moon. Conrad later said he was never able to collect the money. ^[86]

Bean prepares to step onto the lunar surface.

To improve the quality of television pictures from the Moon, a color camera was carried on Apollo 12 (unlike the monochrome camera on Apollo 11). When Bean carried the camera to the place near the LM where it was to be set up, he inadvertently pointed it directly into the Sun, destroying the Secondary Electron Conduction (SEC) tube. Television coverage of this mission was thus terminated almost immediately. ^{[87] [88]}

After raising a U.S. flag on the Moon, Conrad and Bean devoted much of the remainder of the first EVA to deploying the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP). ^[89] There were minor difficulties with the deployment. Bean had trouble extracting the RTG's plutonium fuel element from its protective cask, and the astronauts had to resort to the use of a hammer to hit the cask and dislodge the fuel element. Some of the ALSEP packages proved hard to deploy, though the astronauts were successful in all cases. ^[90] With the PSE able to detect their footprints as they headed back to the LM, the astronauts secured a core tube full of lunar material, and collected other samples. The first EVA lasted 3 hours, 56 minutes and 3 seconds. ^[89]

Four possible geologic traverses had been planned, the variable being where the LM might set down. Conrad had landed it between two of these potential landing points, and during the first EVA and the rest break that followed, scientists in Houston combined two of the traverses into one that Conrad and Bean could follow from their landing point. ^[91] The resultant traverse resembled a rough circle, and when the astronauts emerged from the LM some 13 hours after ending the first EVA, the first stop was Head crater, some 100 yards (91 m) from the LM. There, Bean noticed that Conrad's footprints showed lighter material underneath, indicating the presence of ejecta from Copernicus crater, 230 miles (370 km) to the north, something that scientists examining overhead photographs of the site had hoped to find. After the mission, samples from Head allowed geologists to date the impact that formed Copernicus ^[92] —according to initial dating, some 810,000,000 years ago. ^[93]

Conrad with the U.S. flag

The astronauts proceeded to Bench crater and Sharp crater and past Halo crater before arriving at Surveyor crater, where the Surveyor 3 probe had landed. ^[57] Fearing treacherous footing or that the probe might topple on them, they approached Surveyor cautiously, descending into the shallow crater some distance away and then following a contour to reach the craft, but found the footing solid and the probe stable. They collected several pieces of Surveyor, including the television camera, as well as taking rocks that had been studied by television. Conrad and Bean had procured an automatic timer for their Hasselblad cameras, and had brought it with them without telling Mission Control, hoping to take a selfie of the two of them with the probe, but when the time came to use it, could not locate it among the lunar samples they had already placed in their Hand Tool Carrier. ^[94] Before returning to the LM's vicinity, Conrad and Bean went to Block crater, within Surveyor crater. ^[95] The second EVA lasted 3 hours, 49 minutes, 15 seconds, during which they traveled 4,300 feet (1,300 m). During the EVAs, Conrad and Bean went as far as 1,350 feet (410 m) from the LM, and collected 73.75 pounds (33.45 kg) of samples. ^[96]

Lunar orbit solo activities

Gordon in the CM simulator

After the LM's departure, Gordon had little to say as Mission Control focused on the lunar landing. Once that was accomplished, Gordon sent his congratulations and, on the next orbit, was able to spot both the LM and the Surveyor on the ground and convey their locations to Houston. During the first EVA, Gordon prepared for a plane change maneuver, a burn to alter the CSM's orbit to compensate for the rotation of the Moon, though at times he had difficulty communicating with Houston since Conrad and Bean were using the same communications circuit. Once the two moonwalkers had returned to the LM, Gordon executed the burn, ^[97] which ensured he would be in the proper position to rendezvous with the LM when it launched from the Moon. ^[98]

While alone in orbit, Gordon performed the Lunar Multispectral Photography Experiment, using four Hasselblad cameras arranged in a ring and aimed through one of the CM's windows. With each camera having a different color filter, simultaneous photos would be taken by each, showing the appearance of lunar features at different points on the spectrum. Analysis of the images might reveal colors not visible to the naked eye or detectable with ordinary color film, and information could be obtained about the composition of sites that would not soon be visited by humans. Among the sites studied were contemplated landing points for future Apollo missions. ^{[99] [100]}

Return

A solar eclipse seen from Apollo 12

LM Intrepid lifted off from the Moon at mission time 143:03:47.78, or 14:25:47 UTC on November 20, 1969; after several maneuvers, CSM and LM docked three and a half hours later. ^[101] At 147:59:31.6, the LM ascent stage was jettisoned, and shortly thereafter the CSM maneuvered away. Under control from Earth, the LM's remaining propellant was depleted in a burn that caused it to impact the Moon 39 nautical miles (72 km; 45 mi) from the Apollo 12 landing point. ^[101] The seismometer the astronauts had left on the lunar surface registered the resulting vibrations for more than an hour. ^[102]

The crew stayed another day in lunar orbit taking photographs of the surface, including of candidate sites for future Apollo landings. A second plane change maneuver was made at 159:04:45.47, lasting 19.25 seconds. ^[103]

The trans-Earth injection burn, to send the CSM Yankee Clipper towards home, was conducted at 172:27:16.81 and lasted 130.32 seconds. Two short midcourse correction burns were made en route. A final television broadcast was made, the astronauts answering questions submitted by the media. ^[72] There was ample time for rest on the way back to Earth. ^[104] One event was the photography of a solar eclipse that occurred when the Earth came between the spacecraft and the Sun; Bean described it as the most spectacular sight of the mission. ^[105]

Splashdown

Yankee Clipper returned to Earth on November 24, 1969 splashing down in the South Pacific Ocean southeast of Samoa at 244:36:25 (20:58:24 UTC, 10:58:24 am  HST, local time at the landing site). The landing was hard, resulting in a camera becoming dislodged and striking Bean in the forehead. After recovery by USS Hornet, they entered the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF), while lunar samples and Surveyor parts were sent ahead by air to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) in Houston. Once the Hornet docked in Hawaii, the MQF was offloaded and flown to Ellington Air Force Base near Houston on November 29, from where it was taken to the LRL, where the astronauts remained until released from quarantine on December 10. ^{[106] [107]}

Mission insignia

The Apollo 12 mission patch shows the crew's naval background; all three astronauts at the time of the mission were U.S. Navy commanders. It features a clipper ship arriving at the Moon, representing the CM Yankee Clipper. The ship trails fire, and flies the flag of the United States. The mission name APOLLO XII and the crew names are on a wide gold border, with a small blue trim. Blue and gold are traditional U.S. Navy colors. The patch has four stars on it – one each for the three astronauts who flew the mission and one for Clifton Williams, the original LMP on Conrad's crew who was killed in 1967 and would have flown the mission. The star was placed there at the suggestion of his replacement, Bean. ^[108]

The insignia was designed by the crew with the aid of several employees of NASA contractors. The Apollo 12 landing area on the Moon is within the portion of the lunar surface shown on the insignia, based on a photograph of a globe of the Moon, taken by engineers. The clipper ship was based on photographs of such a ship obtained by Bean. ^[109]

Aftermath and spacecraft location

Apollo 12 CM Yankee Clipper on display at the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, Virginia

After the mission, Conrad urged his crewmates to join him in the Skylab program, seeing in it the best chance of flying in space again. Bean did so—Conrad commanded Skylab 2, the first crewed mission to the space station, while Bean commanded Skylab 3. ^[110] Gordon, though, still hoped to walk on the Moon and remained with the Apollo program, serving as backup commander of Apollo 15. He was the likely commander of Apollo 18, but that mission was canceled and he did not fly in space again. ^[111]

The Apollo 12 command module Yankee Clipper, was displayed at the Paris Air Show and was then placed at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; ownership was transferred to the Smithsonian in July 1971. It is on display at the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton. ^{[112] [113]}

Mission Control had remotely fired the service module's thrusters after jettison, hoping to have it skip off the atmosphere and enter a high-apogee orbit, but the lack of tracking data confirming this caused it to conclude it most likely burned up in the atmosphere at the time of CM re-entry. ^[114] The S-IVB is in a solar orbit that is sometimes affected by the Earth. ^[115]

The ascent stage of LM Intrepid impacted the Moon November 20, 1969, at 22:17:17.7 UT (5:17 pm EST)  3°56′S21°12′W / 3.94°S 21.20°W / -3.94; -21.20 (Apollo 12 Intrepid lunar module impact) . ^[116] In 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) photographed the Apollo 12 landing site, where the descent stage, ALSEP, Surveyor 3 spacecraft, and astronaut footpaths remain. ^[117] In 2011, the LRO returned to the landing site at a lower altitude to take higher resolution photographs. ^[118]

See also

• List of artificial objects on the Moon
• List of missions to the Moon
• List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999

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• Apollo 12 Mission Report (PDF). Houston, Texas: NASA (publication number MSC-01855). 1970. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.
• Apollo 12 Press Kit. Washington, D.C.: NASA. 1969.
• Brooks, Courtney G.; Grimwood, James M.; Swenson, Loyd S. Jr. (1979). Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft (PDF). NASA History Series. Washington, D.C.: Scientific and Technical Information Branch, NASA. ISBN   978-0-486-46756-6. LCCN   79001042. OCLC   4664449. NASA SP-4205. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.
• Chaikin, Andrew (1995) [1994]. A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts. Foreword by Tom Hanks. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN   978-0-14-024146-4.
• Harland, David M. (2011). Apollo 12—On the Ocean of Storms. Chichester, UK: Praxis Publishing Company. ISBN   978-1-4419-7607-9.
• Lattimer, Dick (1985). All We Did Was Fly to the Moon. History-alive series. Vol. 1. Foreword by James A. Michener (1st ed.). Gainesville, FL: Whispering Eagle Press. ISBN   978-0-9611228-0-5.
• Lovell, Jim; Kluger, Jeffrey (1994). Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN   978-0-395-67029-3.
• Orloff, Richard W.; Harland, David M. (2006). Apollo: The Definitive Sourcebook. Chichester, UK: Praxis Publishing Company. ISBN   978-0-387-30043-6.
• Phinney, William C. (2015). Science Training History of the Apollo Astronauts (PDF). NASA. SP-2015-626. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.
• Slayton, Donald K. "Deke"; Cassutt, Michael (1994). Deke! U.S. Manned Space: From Mercury to the Shuttle (1st ed.). New York: Forge. ISBN   978-0-312-85503-1.

External links

• "Apollo 12" at Encyclopedia Astronautica
• "Apollo 12" at NASA's National Space Science Data Center
• Apollo 11, 12, and 14 Traverses, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute
• "Apollo 12 Traverse Map" at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center
• Lunar Orbiter 3 image 154 H2, used for planning the mission (landing site is left of center).
• Lunar Orbiter 1 sequence of images 157, 158, and 159, showing the Apollo 12 landing site and vicinity

NASA reports

• "Apollo 12 Preliminary Science Report" (PDF), NASA, NASA SP-235, 1970
• "Analysis of Apollo 12 Lightning Incident", (PDF) February 1970
• "Analysis of Surveyor 3 material and photographs returned by Apollo 12" (PDF) 1972
• "Examination of Surveyor 3 surface sampler scoop"(PDF) 1971
• "Table 2-40. Apollo 12 Characteristics" from NASA Historical Data Book: Volume III: Programs and Projects 1969–1978 by Linda Neuman Ezell, NASA History Series (1988)
• The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology Archived December 9, 2017, at the Wayback Machine NASA, NASA SP-4009
• "Apollo Program Summary Report" (PDF), NASA, JSC-09423, April 1975

Multimedia

• The short film Apollo 12: Pinpoint For Science is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive .
• "Apollo 12: Pinpoint For Science" on YouTube
• "Apollo 12: The Bernie Scrivener Audio Tapes" – Apollo 12 audio recordings at the Apollo 12 Flight Journal
• "Apollo 12: There and Back Again" – Image slideshow by Life magazine
• "Moon Shot: The Flight of Apollo XII" (50th Anniversary – November 20, 1969–2019) (PDF). June 1994. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 1, 2021.
• "Apollo 12: Patch" Archived August 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine – Image of Apollo 12 mission patch

Archival documents

• Records tagged "apollo 12" in National Archives Catalog

Apollo 12

Commander Pete Conrad studies the Surveyor 3 spacecraft, which had landed two years previously; the Apollo Lunar Module, Intrepid, can be seen at top right.
Mission type	Crewed lunar landing (H)
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	CSM: 1969-099A [1] LM: 1969-099C [1]
SATCAT no.	CSM: 4225 [2] LM: 4226 [2]
Mission duration	10 days, 4 hours, 36 minutes, 24 seconds [3]
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Command and service module CSM-108 Lunar Module LM-6
Manufacturer	CSM: North American Rockwell LM: Grumman
Launch mass	49,915 kg (110,044 lb) [4]
Landing mass	5,010 kg (11,050 lb) [5]
Crew
Crew size	3
Members	Charles Conrad Jr. Richard F. Gordon Jr. Alan L. Bean
Callsign	CSM: Yankee Clipper LM: Intrepid
Start of mission
Launch date	November 14, 1969, 16:22:00 (1969-11-14UTC16:22Z)  UTC (11:22 am  EST)
Rocket	Saturn V SA-507
Launch site	Kennedy, LC-39A
End of mission
Recovered by	USS Hornet
Landing date	November 24, 1969, 20:58:24 (1969-11-24UTC20:58:25Z) UTC (10:58:24 am  HST)
Landing site	South Pacific Ocean ( 15°46.6′S165°9′W / 15.7767°S 165.150°W / -15.7767; -165.150 (Apollo 12 splashdown) )
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Selenocentric
Periselene altitude	101.1 km (54.59  nmi; 62.8 mi) [3]
Aposelene altitude	122.4 km (66.1 nmi; 76.1 mi) [3]
Lunar orbiter
Orbital insertion	November 18, 1969, 03:47:23 UTC
Orbital departure	November 21, 1969, 20:49:16 UTC
Orbits	45

v t e Apollo program
List of missions canceled missions List of Apollo astronauts
Launch complexes	Launch Complex 34 Launch Complex 37 Launch Complex 39 A B
Ground facilities	Mission Control Center Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Crawler-transporter Kennedy Space Center Manned Space Flight Network
Launch vehicles	Little Joe II Saturn Saturn I Saturn IB Saturn V
Spacecraft and rover	Apollo spacecraft Command and Service Module Lunar Module Lunar Roving Vehicle
Flights	Uncrewed AS-101 AS-102 AS-201 AS-202 Apollo 4 Apollo 5 Apollo 6 † Crewed Apollo 1 † Apollo 7 Apollo 8 Apollo 9 Apollo 10 Apollo 11 Apollo 12 Apollo 13 † Apollo 14 Apollo 15 Apollo 16 Apollo 17 Saturn development Saturn-Apollo 1 SA-2 SA-3 SA-4 SA-5 AS-203 Apollo 4 Apollo 6 † Abort tests QTV Pad Abort Test-1 A-001 A-002 A-003 Pad Abort Test-2 A-004 Pegasus flights AS-103 AS-104 AS-105
Apollo 8 specific	Earthrise Genesis reading
Apollo 11 specific	Command Module Columbia Lunar Module Eagle Tranquility Base Double crater Little West crater Goodwill messages Lunar sample displays Missing tapes Anniversaries 50th Anniversary commemorative coins In popular culture
Apollo 12 specific	Statio Cognitum Surveyor 3 Surveyor crater Bench Crater meteorite J002E3 Moon Museum Reports of Streptococcus mitis on the Moon
Apollo 13 specific	"Houston, we've had a problem"
Apollo 14 specific	Modular Equipment Transporter Fra Mauro formation Big Bertha Moon tree
Apollo 15 specific	Journey Lunar operations Solo operations Return to Earth Hadley–Apennine Fallen Astronaut Genesis Rock Great Scott Hadley Rille meteorite Seatbelt basalt Postal covers incident
Apollo 16 specific	Big Muley
Apollo 17 specific	The Blue Marble Taurus–Littrow Tracy's Rock Nansen-Apollo crater Shorty crater Lunar sample display Lunar basalt 70017 Troctolite 76535 Apollo Lunar Sounder Experiment Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, and Phooey
Post-Apollo capsule use	Skylab 2 3 4 Apollo–Soyuz
Related	Lunar orbit rendezvous Stolen and missing Moon rocks Third-party evidence for Apollo Moon landings
Symbol † indicates failure or partial failure