PINPOINT FOR SCIENCE

[Music] April 19th 1967 surveer 3 landed on the moon in a crater of Oceanus proram the ocean of storms with surveyor's electronic eye we view the lunar surface with its mechanical arm we dug a small shallow trench in the lunar soil now on November 14th 1969 31 months after surveyor's Landing men were leaving the Earth to land on the ocean of storms Charles Pete Conrad Richard Gordon Alan Bean the crew of Apollo 12 the second man landing on the face of the Moon their target the sight of surveyor 3 [Music] through the courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration I have been able to make available to you the film you are about to see the flight of Apollo 12 Apollo 12 shows astronauts Gordon Conrad and bean as they continue the New Age of Exploration and discovery the Space Age television coverage by satellite which is indeed another product of the Space Age was seen by several hundred million of viewers in 50 Nations on six continents join me now as we recapture the excitement and the drama of the flight of Apollo 12 ignition sequence start 6 5 4 3 2 1 Zer all engines running commit lift off Apollo 12 lifted off in the driving rain Pete Conrad reports the yard program is in Tower clear pitching a roll program and this baby is really going 36 seconds later lightning struck the spacecraft I don't know what happened here we had everything in the world Dro out I'm not sure we can get hit by lightning fuel cell lights AC light fuel cell disconect ACS overload one and two main bus a out okay we're all organized again Jang we've had a couple of cardiac arrests down here here too Pete I'll tell you one thing it's a first class ride Houston you got to go orbit you're looking good in space and on Earth they checked out the systems to be sure that the lightning had caused no damage that would endanger the mission the time for commitment neared the burn to send Apollo 12 to the Moon translunar injection tli Apollo 12 Houston the good word is your go for tli hoopy do we're ready we didn't expect anything else we didn't train for anything else Pete you better believe it we have dat in thrust is go burn looks good with engine cut off Apollo 12 was on its way to the moon now they turned around to dock with the lunar module and pull it free of the now useless booster we got a hard dock Houston he looks good the next burn would Place Apollo 12 on a new path to the Moon previous missions had followed a trajectory that would allow them to loop around the moon and with no further Burns return to Earth but APLE 12 in order to land at the proper site with the proper lighting would break out of the free return path should a failure occur a burn of the service or lunar module engine would be needed to get them home sing 99 2 [Applause] one ball now four five very good now they settle down to the routine of the outward flight we're trying all these things that we didn't have in gemy like toothpaste and shaving and uh having a ball up here Roger all dressed up and no place to go oh we're going someplace we can see it getting bigger and bigger all the time then on November 17th they prepared for orbit around the Moon our uh motion to the left is not as apparent as our motion towards the moon and therefore we have the decided impression that we're going right into the center of that baby right now okay Houston we're maneuvering to the burn attitude R we copied that 12 we're beginning to uh go into darkness at this time 12 matter we're there hello 12 Houston your go for Ali Roger Houston go for Loi burn checklist is complete to minus 6 minutes and we're holding a dead Point Loi lunar orbit insertion the burn of the spacecraft rocket engine that would Place Apollo 12 into orbit around the Moon with this burn occurring behind the moon there would be no Communications with the spacecraft until it came over the lunar Horizon The Command Module Yankee Clipper the lunar module Intrepid Apollo 12 Houston hello Houston Yankee Clipper with Intrepid in toe has arrived on time I guess like everybody else that just arrived all three of us are plastered to the windows look at the next day Pete Conrad and alen bean entered the lunar module leaving dick Gordon in the Command Module now the Intrepid and Yankee Clipper undocked and separated Preparatory to intrepid's descent and landing on the moon okay here you go again back off dick there he goes running Prett [Applause] today as with the orbit insertion burn the burn to begin descent was made behind the moon mission control again contacted Intrepid as it came over the horizon Intrepid Houston how do you read hello inre Roger we read you loud and clear we had a great de and we just watched the first Earth rise which was fantastic the surveyor 3 Target was located in the middle of five craters arranged like a Snowman the upper crater called Head crater the body called surveyor crater surveyor 3 is located in this crater the object to land as close as possible to surveyor crater then at 50,000 ft in prids engine fired and began the landing sequence okay we're out of 19,000 ft I got some kind of a horizon out there I got some craters too but I don't know where I am yet okay in a buy for p64 okay kind of cheating look out there I think I see my crater hey baby I'm not coming through seven look at P6 p64 P there it is there it is son of a gun right down the middle of the road outstanding 42° Pete hey it's targeted right for the center of the CR look out there I can't believe it amazing fantastic 42° babe just keep talking slide it in coming down at about 99 ft a second you're looking good go for landing 40° LPD 40 fantastic I can't believe it you're at 2,000 ft boys on the ground do okay 18800 ft up 39° 38° 36° you're 1200 ftet okay th000 ft coming down at 30 looks good out there babe looks good 32° you're at 800 ft 33 degre 600 ft look at that Traer right where it's supposed to be hey you're beautiful 240 coming down at five hey you're really maneuvering around yeah come on down okay 10% fuel 200 ft coming down at three need to come on down okay 180 ft 9% you're looking good going to get some dust before long 96 ft coming down at six Slow Down The Descent rate 80 80 ft coming down at four you're looking good 50 ft coming down watch for the dust 40 coming down at two looking good watch the dust coming down at two P you got plenty of gas plenty of gas dude hang in there 18t coming down at two he's got it made come on in there 24 ft contact light roger copy contact Pro yeah Pro okay take off okay F you got your command over right off y thing we leveled off high yeah and came down because I sure couldn't see what was underneath us once I got into that D it's a nice place to land look at those bers out there on the horon as Conrad and bean began preparations for their first trip of exploration men on Earth began their attempts to fix their exact Landing site they were a by dick Gordon orbiting in Yankee Clipper I have I well [Applause] done towest dick Gordon using the 28 power SE for these [Applause] sightings Clipper good eyeball well done a major goal of Apollo 12 had been accomplished for before men can engage in meaningful lunar exploration they must be able to select a precise site and get there but now it was time to exit the Intrepid and begin the ex exporation and experiments Conrad climbed out first okay okay I'm at the PCH hey I'll tell you what we're parked next to what we're about 25 ft in front of the survey crat want to be I got I bet you when I get down to the bottom of the ladder I can see the surveyor okay the pit man that may have been a small one for Neil but that's a long one for me boy you'll never believe it that's what I see sitting on the side of the crater the old surveyor the old surveyor yes sir does that look me be any further than 600 ft from here not that bad now Pete Conrad collected a preliminary geological sample I had the desided impression I don't want to move too rapidly but I can walk quite as well seems a little weird I'll tell you don't think you're going to steam around here quite as fast as you thought you were hey Al can work out here all day take your [Applause] time now Alban left Intrepid to join Conrad on the surface of the Moon Head closed here okay don't lock it and if I have landed 20 ft behind where I landed we have landed right smacking that crater inadvertently the television camera was pointed directly at the sun causing the tube to burn out the only unsuccessful aspect of the entire mission go ahead okay yeah we have the up like I said hope everybody down there proud of it if we are to put it up per feat we're proud of what you're doing they prepared an experiments package to be left on the moon an automated scientific station called alep that would send information to Earth for a year powered by a nuclear electric generator okay and we'll off the got to be able to move out with this thing they move to the site selected to set up the station hey there's another one of those Mounds over there where hey you're right what are you suppos they are I don't know it looks like a small volcano they put together the experiment station how far you estimate we from the L 600 fast alep an acronym for Apollo lunar surface experiments package piece by piece they assemble the station okay I got the solar wind deployed here the solar wind experiment to measure atomic particles thrown off by the Sun as they strike the moon a device to measure the moon's tenuous atmosphere a magnetometer to measure the lunar magnetic field which would later be found to be 10 to 20 times stronger than many scientists had expected a seismometer to measure physical properties of the crust and interior and the data station to collect the experimental measurements and transmit them to Earth with alep deployed Conrad and bean began collecting geological samples there look at that son of a gun I got to have that they drove a core tube into the surface to collect soil from various depths okay I'm tuing it right now a bit and pound it but now it's full we show your uh 3 hours and 7 minutes into it into the Eva and we'd like you back uh uh to the lamb to start the close out in 10 minutes that's at 3 + 1 7 hope to get back to that l a long way yeah Houston we're approaching the alap headed back to the L feet now we're picking up uh your heavy Footprints going by the seismometer okay and then we ought to dust each other off man we are filthy coming up the ladder you're shaking the whole M sorry about that yane Clipper houst hell Clipper here Clipper you were s of the Forgotten man for a little while we're all all eyes are on you now we're with you and as dick Gordon circled the moon Pete Conrad and Alban rested for their next Expedition their total time on the lunar surface had been just under 4 hours 12 1/2 hours later they went out again whoops long step okay Houston roger copy before they began their geological expedition to the surrounding craters and to surveyor they worked around the the lunar module getting ready the tools and containers they would need putting the parts bag on right now Houston Roger we copy that I wonder what happened since yesterday I don't know I think everybody learned them okay as Bean readed the equipment Conrad went out to the alep station to check an instrument about which the earth-based scientists had shown some concern uh L off to the alap and check the side I'll meet at01 at Head crater Houston peeps on his way to the alep after Conrad checked the alep experiments they began the geological Traverse during which they would cover about a mile and take samples from six craters you get a big surprise when you look into this Head crater Al come a lot deeper than it looked there you go that's that's a good rock hey look at the pits in it too that's just going to be a good rock Houston okay Houston I'm coming up with bench crater right now well there's some big fragments pictures what a fantastic sight now look at the bottom of that crater hey here here's some good rock samples right here come on we stop here and look at the chart a little bit more closely and that LM looks small back there Pete now we show you 1200 ft from the limb okay you know what I feel like Al what you ever see those pictures of giraffes running in slow motion exactly what I feel like got the decided feeling I've got to sleep tonight then they arrived at surveyor their Target while the surveyor activities were a bonus they were symbolic symbolic of the success of Apollo 12 yeah we're just going to move to the area now likey see which way it came in see the way this gear pits in over there du up dirt you're still setting there okay Houston I uh I'm jiggling it the surve is firmly planted here that's no problem okay Al we're ready to start getting a te camera okay all right you see that that uh material disintegrate hey that cut the E okay two more tubes on that TV camera and that baby's ours done there you go in the bag in the bag yeah I got to zip it up good chill I better let me cut this scoop off sure didn't think you were going to leave without a scoop did you okay let's head for Blacky crater so so they left surveyor and after a stop at the crater called block they were back at the lunar module collecting the solar wind experiment stowing The Rock boxes really ridiculous I got dust all over the rock box and I'm trying to blow it off Bean re-entered the lunar module first Conrad using a transfer apparatus similar to a clothesline reel sent the samples up to him then Conrad 2 left the lunar surface okay Houston uh if you can mark me off the lunar surface Roger we got that Pete at uh 3 hours and 50 minutes into the Eva okay up the ladder I come I hope I but there was no time to rest the lunar module had to be prepared for liftoff from the Moon and Rond with Yankee Clipper Looking Good Pete 3 2 one [Applause] let our way and one minute right 20 [Applause] Okay jump everything looks good does so they Rose to their Rendevous and from dick Gordon and Yankee Clipper but you sure look strange down there all the sandunes all right at half a mile uh 19 ft a second looking better all the time okay down at 3 ft a second and trepid now station keeping uh with the yane Clipper the two vehicles move together for docking okay is and hold free now Conrad and bean rejoin dick Gordon in the Command Module bringing with them the samples experiments and photographs to be returned to Earth The Next Step jettison the lunar module then send it crashing into the moon to help calibrate the seismometer left on the surface this instrument was designed to measure the intensity of meteor impacts moonquakes landslides and similar phenomena guidance and control officer Reports say that the two spacecraft have uh sep Opa Apollo 12 Houston the limb is on its way down right the men on Earth monitored the output of the seismometer waiting for impact countdown for Lim impact three 2 one Mark Lim impact as for the meaning of it I'd rather not make a an interpretation right now but the it is as though one had struck a bell say in the in the B belfrey of the church a single blow and found that the reverberation from it continued for 30 minutes after 55 minutes the reverberation still had not faded completely Apollo 12 continued its orbits of the Moon Gathering photography for scientific study including the fra marrow area The Landing site for Apollo 13 and then it was time to head back to Earth Roger Roger byebye the other side have fun the burn to send them home would take place behind the moon on Earth we waited waited for Apollo 12 once more Apollo 12 Houston helloo shortly before for re-entry the crew of Apollo 12 watched the earth move to blot out the sun we're getting a spectacular view we using the sun filter from the GNN op looking through that's unbelievable then Apollo 12 hit the atmosphere of Earth at 25,000 mph right we can Cur Pete [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] but the log of Apollo 12 does not end with Splashdown it only begins and if I got the Grapefruit rock of all grapefruit rocks I looking at a rock that has all crystals in it and on the moon an experimental station called alsap sends back its data each experiment representing a milestone in our knowledge of the Moon the lunar iser Alias side has been turned on and I'm very happy to say is functioning perfectly the solar wind spectrometer has been functioning of course since the ala has been turned on the seismic experiment as as has been reported is functioning in all respects properly I think it will represent a major discovery of completely unanticipated about the moon we're going to have to to throw the book away and uh begin over again which seems to be the case for the moon in general Apollo 12 was a milestone in man and extraterrestrial exploration it achieved its Pinpoint Landing as close as possible to its selected Target marked by surveyor it set a pace and a pattern of scientific exploration that future missions will not only follow but will go [Music] beyond for