Apollo 12 Liftoff at Launch Pad 39A

Apollo 12 Liftoff at Launch Pad 39A

Apollo 12 Liftoff

John F. Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center

Merritt Island (Fla.)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)

NASA

Apollo Project (U.S.)

Project Apollo (U.S.)

Apollo 12 (Spacecraft)

The sky appears dark because of the brightness of the rocket plume at liftoff, so the photograph was shot with a very small aperture. 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-), and was launched November 14, 1969. 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.

Original black and white photographic print, November 14, 1969: Larry Summers Collection.

1969-11-14

Digital reproduction of original black and white photographic print, November 14, 1969.

Florida Space Coast History Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

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1 black and white photographic print

Still Image

John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida

Donation

History Teacher

Civics/Government Teacher

Copyright to this resource is held by Larry Summers and is provided here by RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.

Michlowitz, Robert

Cepero, Laura

"APOLLO 12 (AS-507)." Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Accessed July 8 , 2015. http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo12.cfm.

1 black and white photographic print