President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon at Patrick Air Force Base
Alternative Title
President Nixon and First Lady at Patrick AFB
Subject
Patrick Air Force Base (Fla.)
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994
Presidents--United States
Nixon, Pat, 1912-1993
Nixon, Thelma Catherine Patricia Ryan, 1912-1993
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
Apollo Project (U.S.)
Project Apollo (U.S.)
Description
President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) accompanied by his wife, Pat Nixon (1912-1993), greeting citizens at Patrick Air Force Base with Marine One in the background. Nixon arrived with his wife and his daughter, Patricia "Tricia" Nixon (1946-), to watch the launch of Apollo 12 on November 14, 1969. Apollo 12 was the second mission which landed men on the moon and the first to bring a color television camera to the lunar surface, but transmission was lost after Bean accidently destroyed the camera by pointing it at the Sun. The mission crew was composed of Mission Commander Pete Conrad (1930-1999)
Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon, Jr. (1929-)
and Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean (1932-). The mission gathered samples, deployed equipment to perform experiments, and retrieved parts of the Surveyor 3 lander probe, which had been on the Moon's surface since April 20, 1967. The significance of the recovery of Surveyor III parts allowed scientist to examine the long term effects of the lunar environment on spacecraft.
Source
Original color photographic print, November 14, 1969: Leonard Pugh Collection.