Apollo And America's Moon Landing Program

This official NASA document provides the complete transcription of the historic Apollo 12 post-flight debriefing given by astronauts Pete Conrad, Al Bean, and Dick Gordon. Every aspect of the incredible adventure of the second moon landing, which landed next to the Surveyor 3 spacecraft, is discussed - from moonwalking to personal hygiene issues, launch through landing. This is an invaluable addition to the ebook library of anyone interested in the Apollo moon landings. Surprising facts, comments, and anecdotes are included in this debriefing. Did you know, for example, that Conrad was so hungry on the moon, he ate some of Al Bean's food? Or that Conrad briefly feared that Bean was critically injured during the splashdown: "We really hit flatter than a pancake, and it was a tremendous impact, much greater than anything I'd experienced in Gemini. The 16-mm camera, which was on the bracket - and we may have been remiss in this and I'm not sure, but it wasn't in the checklist - whistled off and clanked Al on the head to the tune of six stitches. It cold-cocked him, which is why we were in stable II. Although he doesn't realize it, he was out to lunch for about 5 seconds. Dick was hollering for him to punch in the breakers, and in the meantime, I'd seen this thing whistle off out of the corner of my eye and he was blankly staring at the instrument panel. I was convinced he was dead over there in the right seat, but he wasn't, and finally got the breakers in." Contents: Suiting and Ingress * Status Checks and Countdown * Powered Flight * Earth Orbit and Systems Checkout * TLI Through S-IVB Closeout * Translunar Coast * LOI Through Lunar Module Activation * Lunar Module Checkout Through Separation * DPI Through Touchdown * Lunar Surface * CSM Circumlunar Operations * Liftoff, Rendezvous, And Docking * Lunar Module Jettison Through TEI * Transearth Coast * Entry * Landing and Recovery * Geology and Experiments * Command Module Systems Operations * Lunar Module Systems Operations * Miscellaneous Systems, Flight Equipment, And GFE * Visual Sightings * Premission Planning * Mission Control * Training * Medical and Food * Miscellaneous The primary mission objectives of the second crewed lunar landing included an extensive series of lunar exploration tasks by the lunar module, or LM, crew, as well as the deployment of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, which was to be left on the moon's surface to gather seismic, scientific and engineering data throughout a long period of time. Other Apollo 12 objectives included a selenological inspection; surveys and samplings in landing areas; development of techniques for precision-landing capabilities; further evaluations of the human capability to work in the lunar environment for a prolonged period of time; deployment and retrieval of other scientific experiments; and photography of candidate exploration sites for future missions. The astronauts also were to retrieve portions of the Surveyor III spacecraft, which had soft-landed on the moon April 20, 1967, a short distance from the selected landing site of Apollo 12. The flight plan for Apollo 12 was similar to that of Apollo 11, except Apollo 12 was to fly a higher inclination to the lunar equator and leave the free-return trajectory after the second translunar midcourse correction. This first non-free-return trajectory on an Apollo mission was designed to allow a daylight launch and a translunar injection above the Pacific Ocean. It also allowed a stretch of the translunar coast to gain the desired landing site lighting at the time of LM descent, conserved fuel and permitted the Goldstone, Calif., tracking antenna to monitor the LM descent and landing.