Author Topic: Apollo 12  (Read 40956 times)

Offline Ronpur50

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2117
  • Brandon, FL
  • Liked: 1028
  • Likes Given: 1884
Apollo 12
« on: 11/14/2014 10:56 am »
45 years ago, my favorite mission to the moon started!!

Go Conrad, Gordan and Bean!

Offline Ronpur50

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2117
  • Brandon, FL
  • Liked: 1028
  • Likes Given: 1884
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #1 on: 11/14/2014 10:58 am »

Offline wolfpack

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 743
  • Wake Forest, NC
  • Liked: 159
  • Likes Given: 4
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #2 on: 11/14/2014 01:55 pm »
If I'm ever in a machine (airplane, rocket, whatever) that has an electrical problem, I want Pete Conrad in it! :)

Online rocketguy101

  • Member
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 868
    • Strib's Rocket Page
  • Liked: 244
  • Likes Given: 888
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #3 on: 11/14/2014 02:21 pm »
If I'm ever in a machine (airplane, rocket, whatever) that has an electrical problem, I want Pete Conrad in it! :)
or John Aaron :)
David

Online Orbiter

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2995
  • Florida
  • Liked: 1548
  • Likes Given: 1385
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #4 on: 11/14/2014 02:34 pm »
CSM onboard audio of the Apollo 12 launch.

KSC Engineer, astronomer, rocket photographer.

Online Orbiter

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2995
  • Florida
  • Liked: 1548
  • Likes Given: 1385
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #5 on: 11/14/2014 02:38 pm »
Here's the flight transcript of the dramatic first stage flight from above.

000:00:37 Gordon (onboard): What the hell was that?

000:00:38 Conrad (onboard): Huh?

000:00:39 Gordon (onboard): I lost a whole bunch of stuff; I don't know ...

000:00:40 Conrad (onboard): Turn off the buses.

Public Affairs Office - "40 seconds."

000:00:42 Carr: Mark.

000:00:43 Carr: One Bravo.

000:00:43 Conrad (onboard): Roger. We had a whole bunch of buses drop out.

000:00:44 Conrad: Roger. We [garble] on that. [Long pause.]

000:00:45 Bean (onboard): There's nothing - it's nothing ...

000:00:47 Gordon (onboard): A circuit ...

000:00:48 Conrad (onboard): Where are we going?

000:00:50 Gordon (onboard): I can't see; there's something wrong.

000:00:51 Conrad (onboard): AC Bus 1 light, all the fuel cells ...

000:00:56 Conrad (onboard): I just lost the platform.

Public Affairs Office - "Altitude a mile and a half now. Velocity 1,592 feet per second."

000:01:00 Bean: [Garble] Got your GDC.

000:01:02 Conrad: Okay, we just lost the platform, gang. I don't know what happened here; we had everything in the world drop out.

000:01:08 Carr: Roger.

Public Affairs Office - "Plus one."

000:01:09 Gordon (onboard): I can't - There's nothing I can tell is wrong, Pete.

000:01:12 Conrad: I got three fuel cell lights, an AC bus light, a fuel cell disconnect, AC bus overload 1 and 2, Main Bus A and B out. [Long pause.]

[Conrad from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "I didn't notice the rate changes, because, at 36 seconds, I first noticed that something had happened outside the spacecraft . I was aware of a white light . I knew that we were in the clouds; and, although I was watching the gauges I was aware of a white light. The next thing I noted was that I heard the Master Alarm ringing in my ears and I glanced over to the caution and warning panel and it was a sight to behold. There's a little disagreement among us and I'll have to look at the tapes, but my recollection of what I called out was three Fuel Cell lights, both AC 1 Bus and AC 1 Overload, Fuel Cell Disconnect, Main A and B Bus Overload lights, and I was not aware of AC 2 lights. Dick thought they were on. I don't think they were because I remember thinking that the only lights that weren't on of the electrical system was AC 2 and maybe I ought to configure for an AC Bus 1 out."]

[Gordon from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "Let me make a comment here. A considerable length of time elapsed between the time those lights came on and when Pete read them off to the ground. I can't swear positively that they were all on. To help Al, my usual habit was, when any light came on during the boost phase, to read it out so that he didn't have to be concerned with which light it was. My recollection is that when I first glanced up there I didn't read any of them to him, but I scanned all of them and the only thing I said to him was, " Al, all the lights are on." I am under the impression that at one time, or initially at least, they were all on. Pete read it out quite a bit later. We'd talked about it and you read them out a minute or so later."]

000:01:21 Bean (onboard): I got AC.

000:01:22 Conrad (onboard): We got AC?

000:01:23 Bean (onboard): Yes.

000:01:24 Conrad (onboard): Maybe it's just the indicator. What do you got on the main bus?

000:01:26 Bean (onboard): Main bus is - The volt indicated is 24 volts.

[Conrad from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "I went back to my gauges and ascertained that everything was running on my side. About this time, the platform tumbled. The next thing I noted was that the ISS light was on. This was obvious because my number 1 ball was doing 360s (that is, spinning round and round. Ed.). I even took the time to peek under the card and we had a Program Alarm light, the Gimbal light, and a No Att light. So we lit up just about everything in the spacecraft. Since that time, we found out that we were hit a second time and that's probably what did the platform in. When the platform went, Al was telling me that we had voltage on all buses and that we had all buses. I remember him telling me that the voltage was low - 24 volts."]

[Bean from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "We got all the lights. I didn't have an idea in the world what happened. My first thought was that we might have aborted, but I didn't feel any g's, so I didn't think that was what had happened. My second thought was that somehow the electrical connection between the Command Module and the Service Module had separated, because all three fuel cells had plopped off and everything else had gone. I immediately started working the problem from the low end of the pole. I looked at both AC buses and they looked okay, so that was a little confusing."]

[Gordon from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "You looked at the voltage meters, not the lights."]

[Bean from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "Yes, that's right. I looked at the volts - the lights were on. I looked a t the voltage and the voltage on all phases was good. This was a little confusing. Usually when you see an ac over-voltage light, either a inverter goes off or you have one of the ac phases reading zero and you have to take the inverter off. In this case, they all looked good and that was a bit confusing. I switched over and took a look at the main buses. There was power on both, although the voltage was down to about 24, which was a lot lower than normal. I looked at the fuel cells and they weren't putting out a thing. I looked at the battery buses and they were putting out the same 24 volts. They were hooked into the mains and it turned out that they were supplying the load. As I did this, I kept telling Pete we had power on all these buses. One of the rules of space flight is you don't make any switch-a-roos with that electrical system unless you've got a good idea why you're doing it. If you don't have power at all, you might change a couple of switches to see what will happen. When you have power and everything is working, you don't want to switch too much. I didn't have any idea what had happened. I wasn't aware anything had taken place outside of the spacecraft. I was visualizing something down in the electrical systems."]

[Conrad from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "We had a crew rule to handle electrical emergencies. Al did not do any switching without first telling me what he was going to do. When he told me that we had power on all buses, I remember making the comment to him not to do anything until we got through staging."]

000:01:29 Conrad (onboard): Huh?

000:01:30 Bean (onboard): Twenty-four volts, which is low.

000:01:33 Conrad (onboard): We've got a short on it of some kind. But I can't believe the volt...

000:01:36 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston. Try SCE to auxiliary. Over.

000:01:39 Conrad: Try FCE to Auxiliary. What the hell is that?

000:01:41 Conrad: NCE to auxiliary...

000:01:42 Gordon (onboard): Fuel cell...

000:01:43 Carr: SCE, SCE to auxiliary. [Long pause.]

000:01:45 Conrad (onboard): Try the buses. Get the buses back on the line.

000:01:48 Bean (onboard): It looks - Everything looks good.

000:01:50 Conrad (onboard): SCE to Aux.

000:01:52 Gordon (onboard): The GDC is good.

000:01:54 Conrad (onboard): Stand by for the - I've lost the event timer; I've lost the...

Public Affairs Office - "Comm reports the reading is back."

000:01:57 Carr: Mark. One Charlie.

000:02:00 Conrad: One Charlie.

000:02:01 Gordon (onboard): Two minutes. EDS, Auto, is Off.

000:02:03 Conrad (onboard): Yes.

000:02:04 Conrad (onboard): EDS, Auto...

[Gordon from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "Let me inject something here. During this time, we didn't have any roll or any calls from the ground or anything. I didn't hear I-B called out; during all the confusion of all the lights, I did not throw the RCS propellant command to RCS. I missed that switch. The next thing I recall being called from the ground after this electrical problem got sorted out in everybody's mind was a I-C call and I thought, "I've got to get over here," and I turned off the RCS propellant command at that time. Then, in 2 minutes, I got the EDS. I guess the rules say that when you lose a fuel cell you turn off the EDS; but there was so much confusion at that time that I just got the EDS functions at the 2 minute time."]

[Conrad from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "I guess the most serious thing was the second lightning strike, which we weren't aware of. I was under the impression we lost the platform simply because of low voltage but apparently that's not the case. Apparently we got hit a second time at that point. Dick's right with that EDS Auto enabled. All we needed to do was blow a battery off the line and I have a decided impression we would have gotten an Auto abort."]

[Gordon from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "No, you need two of them."]

[Conrad from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "I think because of previous crew briefings, there were no surprises in S-IC staging. We got all the good things that most people mentioned and so much for that."]

000:02:06 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston. Go for staging.

000:02:10 Conrad: Roger. Go for staging we had some really big glitch, gang?
KSC Engineer, astronomer, rocket photographer.

Offline Ronpur50

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2117
  • Brandon, FL
  • Liked: 1028
  • Likes Given: 1884
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #6 on: 11/14/2014 09:24 pm »
I have this memory of watching a Captain Kangaroo episode in which the Captain was showing us what would happen on this mission with a LEM mockup and lunar surface.  But I have yet seen anything to confirm my memory!


Offline Hog

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2846
  • Woodstock
  • Liked: 1700
  • Likes Given: 6866
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #7 on: 11/14/2014 10:06 pm »
I have this memory of watching a Captain Kangaroo episode in which the Captain was showing us what would happen on this mission with a LEM mockup and lunar surface.  But I have yet seen anything to confirm my memory!
My Aunt once had to administer CPR to Captain Kangaroo after he collapsed of an apparent heart attack.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wow, was that ever an exciting launch.  The Saturn-V is such a huge launcher, it must have been quite the sight to see.  Way to go Apollo 12!
Paul

Offline HDTVGuy

  • Member
  • Posts: 42
  • Liked: 25
  • Likes Given: 2
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #8 on: 11/14/2014 11:38 pm »
You have to love a guy who replies to getting struck by lightning twice by saying "Think we need to do a little more all-weather testing.

Offline edkyle99

  • Expert
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15391
    • Space Launch Report
  • Liked: 8566
  • Likes Given: 1356
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #9 on: 11/15/2014 12:40 am »
Apollo 12 was great until the Color (!) TV camera burned out during the early moments of the first moon walk, and we who were watching were left staring at a mostly blank screen.  We never got to see Surveyor on TV, or much of anything.

 - Ed Kyle
« Last Edit: 11/15/2014 12:43 am by edkyle99 »

Offline Alpha Control

  • Veteran
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1236
  • Washington, DC
  • Liked: 164
  • Likes Given: 102
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #10 on: 11/15/2014 12:58 am »
CSM onboard audio of the Apollo 12 launch.



Thanks, Orbiter, for the CGI video of the launch. Enjoyed watching it while listening to the audio. Quite the 1st stage launch indeed!

Space launches attended:
Antares/Cygnus ORB-D1 Wallops Island, VA Sept 2013 | STS-123 KSC, FL March 2008 | SpaceShipOne Mojave, CA June 2004

Offline bkellysky

  • Member
  • Full Member
  • **
  • Posts: 217
  • Selfie in Surveyor's camera mirror at NASM
  • Ardsley, New York, USA
    • Heads UP!
  • Liked: 79
  • Likes Given: 249
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #11 on: 11/15/2014 01:00 am »
I remember the launch very well!
I was in 8th grade and we had a TV in our Social Studies class so we could watch the launch, but we only had audio, no picture.  I heard enough of the air/ground link behind the commentary to think something had happened that wasn't supposed to happen, even though the commentary was not mentioning the loss of electrical busses in the CM.

Offline the_other_Doug

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3010
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Liked: 2191
  • Likes Given: 4620
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #12 on: 11/15/2014 03:00 am »
Here's my favorite Apollo 12 launch photo -- it's so moody, the rocket lifting into almost black skies.

-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)
-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)

Offline the_other_Doug

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3010
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Liked: 2191
  • Likes Given: 4620
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #13 on: 11/15/2014 03:23 am »
And from the tower, in the midst of the rainstorm...

-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)
-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)

Offline the_other_Doug

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3010
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Liked: 2191
  • Likes Given: 4620
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #14 on: 11/15/2014 04:04 am »
Yes, the transcript Orbiter posted is the version that came out in the on-board tape transcript.  Based on my own listening to the tape, and the comments from some involved (including Conrad himself), I'd like to offer a few corrections to the attributions.  (The words transcribed are mostly correct, but the attributions are pretty poor right at the beginning of the glitch.)


(Beginning of period during which Houston could hear nothing but snatches of voices, mostly drowned out by static.  dvd)

000:00:37 Gordon Conrad (onboard): What the hell was that?

(This is based, in addition to my own identification of the voice from the tape, on the fact that Conrad reported seeing a bright light through the BPC window and had commented on the bright light and immediate vibration of the thunder that passed right around the vehicle.  dvd)

000:00:38 Conrad Gordon (onboard): Huh?

000:00:39 Gordon Conrad (onboard): ...just lost a whole bunch of stuff; I don't know ...

000:00:40 Conrad Bean (onboard): ...turn off the buses.

(This sounds like Al to me on the tape, and since Bean was in the right seat where all the CSM electrical system monitors were located, it makes sense for him to be commenting on the AC buses.  Also, I've always thought he was saying something like "Who turned off the buses?" but was garbled enough that you can't make out the entire statement as the semi-startled question I believe it was.  dvd)

Public Affairs Office - "40 seconds."

000:00:42 Carr: Mark.

000:00:43 Carr: One Bravo.

000:00:43 Conrad (onboard): Roger. We had a whole bunch of buses drop out.

(This last not heard by Houston; communications still drowned out by static, and Pete may not have pressed his PTT button, which was necessary to actually transmit to the ground.  The way the comm system was set up during launches, the crew was on VOX to each other but had to press the PTT button to be heard on the air-to-ground loop.  dvd)

000:00:44 Conrad: Roger. We [garble] on that. [Long pause.]

(Again, while Pete may have tried to reply to Houston here, it was drowned out by static and not intelligible.  dvd)

000:00:45 Bean (onboard): There's nothing - it's nothing ...

000:00:47 Gordon Conrad (onboard): A circuit ...

000:00:48 Conrad Bean (onboard): Where are we going?

(This sounds like Bean to me on the tape, and fits with Bean's later commentary that he initially thought that the CSM had aborted and been pulled off the stack by the LES, thus having separated from the SM and the fuel cells that had just gone offline.  This was reinforced by the booming thunder sound that accompanied the light flash that Conrad saw, but Al finally decided, shortly after this statement, that he ought to have felt the G's if the LES had fired, so they must still be on the stack.  dvd)

000:00:50 Gordon (onboard): I can't see; there's something wrong.

000:00:51 Conrad (onboard): AC Bus 1 light, all the fuel cells ...

(Between these two comments by Pete, the second lightning strike occurs.  dvd)

000:00:56 Conrad (onboard): I just lost the platform.

Public Affairs Office - "Altitude a mile and a half now. Velocity 1,592 feet per second."

000:01:00 Bean: [Garble] Got your GDC.

(End of period during which Houston only heard snatches of voices that were mostly drowned out by static.  dvd)

000:01:02 Conrad: Okay, we just lost the platform, gang. I don't know what happened here; we had everything in the world drop out.

000:01:08 Carr: Roger.

Public Affairs Office - "Plus one."

000:01:09 Gordon (onboard): I can't - There's nothing I can tell is wrong, Pete.

(This is the timeframe when both Pete and Dick recall Dick saying, of the warning lights on the Caution and Warning panel, "They're all on."  But, per the tapes, Dick never actually said that.  This is the best place where they could both have thought that Dick said something like that.  Al was too busy trying to psych out why the fuel cells weren't feeding currents and yet were telling him they had good reactant flows to recall the call-outs during these few seconds.  dvd)

000:01:12 Conrad: I got three fuel cell lights, an AC bus light, a fuel cell disconnect, AC bus overload 1 and 2, Main Bus A and B out. [Long pause.]

000:01:21 Bean (onboard): I got AC.

000:01:22 Conrad (onboard): We got AC?

000:01:23 Bean (onboard): Yes.

(Recall that the fuel cells put out DC power.  The AC power was generated using AC converters and then fed into the AC Main A and Main B buses.  With a major glitch on the buses, Conrad seemed surprised that the AC converters hadn't shut down, as well -- during sims, it was more common to lose the converters and have good power coming in from the fuel cells.  At this moment, they were facing the exact opposite situation, and so Pete was, perhaps, a little surprised.  dvd)

000:01:24 Conrad (onboard): Maybe it's just the indicator. What do you got on the main bus?

000:01:26 Bean (onboard): Main bus is - the volt indicated is 24 volts.

000:01:29 Conrad (onboard): Huh?

000:01:30 Bean (onboard): Twenty-four volts, which is low.

000:01:33 Conrad (onboard): We've got a short on it of some kind. But I can't believe the volt...

000:01:36 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston. Try SCE to auxiliary. Over.

000:01:39 Conrad: Try FCE to Auxiliary. What the hell is that?

000:01:41 Conrad: NCE to auxiliary...

000:01:42 Gordon (onboard): Fuel cell...

(Here I think that Dick was trying to make sense of the mis-heard acronym FCE -- thinking the FC must stand for Fuel Cell.  dvd)

000:01:43 Carr: SCE, SCE to auxiliary. [Long pause.]

000:01:45 Conrad (onboard): Try the buses. Get the buses back on the line.

000:01:48 Bean (onboard): It looks - Everything looks good.

000:01:50 Conrad Bean (onboard): SCE to Aux.

(It is reported in several commentaries that it was Al who both knew where that switch was, and that it was Al who was in a position to reach the switch.  The voice is a little garbled on the tape, but it makes sense to me that Al said this as he flipped the switch.  Calling out your switch throws is a good example of standard NASA cockpit discipline.  dvd)

000:01:52 Gordon (onboard): The GDC is good.

000:01:54 Conrad (onboard): Stand by for the - I've lost the event timer; I've lost the...

Public Affairs Office - "Comm reports the reading is back."

000:01:57 Carr: Mark. One Charlie.

000:02:00 Conrad: One Charlie.

000:02:01 Gordon (onboard): Two minutes. EDS, Auto, is Off.

000:02:03 Conrad (onboard): Yes.

000:02:04 Conrad (onboard): EDS, Auto...

000:02:06 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston. Go for staging.

000:02:10 Conrad: Roger. Go for staging we had some really big glitch, gang?


That's my best correction and commentary on the transcript of the "interesting" first two minutes of Apollo 12.

-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)
-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)

Offline the_other_Doug

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3010
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Liked: 2191
  • Likes Given: 4620
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #15 on: 11/15/2014 04:21 am »
Finishing up with Twelve's first day of activities, here are a couple more pictures, both in HDTV format of 1920x1080.  First, the receding Earth with a departing SLA panel in the distance, and second, Intrepid sitting snuggled into its S-IVB cocoon, waiting to be snagged out by Yankee Clipper.

-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)
-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)

Offline the_other_Doug

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3010
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Liked: 2191
  • Likes Given: 4620
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #16 on: 11/15/2014 04:40 am »
And one last thing, since we're doing transcript grabs.  This is one of my favorite quotes from any and all of the Apollo missions.  It comes about four minutes into the TLI burn -- it happened then and not just before launch as depicted in the mini-series "From the Earth to the Moon":


002:48:34 Conrad (onboard): Al Bean, you're on you way to the Moon.

002:48:37 Bean (onboard): Yep, y'all can come along if you like.

002:48:40 Gordon (onboard): All right.


-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)
« Last Edit: 11/15/2014 04:42 am by the_other_Doug »
-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)

Online rocketguy101

  • Member
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 868
    • Strib's Rocket Page
  • Liked: 244
  • Likes Given: 888
David

Offline the_other_Doug

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3010
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Liked: 2191
  • Likes Given: 4620
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #18 on: 11/16/2014 02:25 am »
And as Conrad, Gordon and Bean head out for the Moon, a half-Earth hangs in their black skies...

-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)
-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)

Offline apollolanding

  • Veteran
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 362
  • Member Since 2006-04-10
  • New Jersey
  • Liked: 192
  • Likes Given: 91
Re: Apollo 12
« Reply #19 on: 11/16/2014 01:07 pm »
8 is my favorite Apollo mission but 12 is a very close second and my favorite landing/EVA.  If only Al had found the Hasselblad timer in time, his "seflie" with Surveyor and Conrad would have been amazing.  I cant count how many time's I've watched the "FTETTM" episode.  But the EVA to Surveyor was just amazing.  I know the J missions brought us the most compelling geology but 12 was a great engineering mission.  From the Saturn V chugging its way to orbit despite 2 lightning strikes, the crew not doing anything to compound the problem (despite their colorful and excited chatter), proving pinpoint landing was possible, retrieving hardware from a previous mission to analyze exposure... I will never tire of Apollo 12.  It's no wonder Al Bean turned to painting considering his luck with cameras.
Well here's what could have been.  Sorry, I'm not a Photoshop expert.  If you've ever been on a long car ride with young siblings, you'll understand ;-) "I'm not touching you Beano... I'm not touching you."

     
« Last Edit: 11/16/2014 04:07 pm by apollolanding »
Proud Member of NSF Since 2006-04-10.

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
1