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John Aaron’s (EECOM) next call made him a legend in Mission Control. He said quickly and confidently, “Flight, try S-C-E to Aux.”
Lighting strikes Apollo 12
The lightning bolt that struck Apollo 12 aloft also hit the crane and platform of the mobile launch pad
John Aaron, the environmental control engineer (EECOM) for Apollo 12 launch
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It was 68 degrees, overcast, and raining at Cape Kennedy on November 14, 1969. The ceiling was 2,100 feet and the winds were light. There was some discussion, while the astronauts were suiting-up, of scrubbing the launch, but that would mean ramping this whole thing down, draining every drop of fuel out of the Saturn, and sitting on their hands for a twenty-eight-day hold.
Pres. Nixon at the Apollo 12 launch
Crew on the way to the launch pad
Launch of Apollo 12
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At NASA Headquarters, George Mueller and other planners created a far-reaching plan that Administrator Paine made even more ambitious in adapting it for Nixon’s Space Task Group. The task group’s timetable called for a twelve-man space station and a reusable space shuttle as early as 1975. By 1980, the station would have grown into a fifty-man space base; five years later there would be a hundred men in orbit. Meanwhile, there would be a base in lunar orbit by 1976, with a base on the lunar surface two years later. Then, as early as 1981, the first manned expedition to Mars would depart from earth orbit.
Apollo 12 Insignia
Crew of Apollo 12. Conrad, Gordon & Bean
Surveyor 3 on the Moon
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We left off last week after Buzz Aldrin’s third and final EVA. The hard work for the Gemini 12 mission was now complete. Even with the problems with the radar, the Agena main engines, and the fuel cells, Gemini XII as a whole had gone very well…
G12 Animated Gif
G12 into the Sun
Aldrin & Lovell on Wasp
Mission Patch
