Apollo 12

"Yankee Clipper "

NSSDC ID: 69-099A

Description:
The Apollo 12 spacecraft was part of the second mission in
which humans landed on the moon and returned to earth. The
spacecraft consisted of three modules -- a lunar module (LM),
a command module (CM), and a service module, which linked
with the command module to form the command service
module (CSM). The lunar module landed two men (Commander
Charles P. "Pete" Conrad and LM Pilot Alan L. Bean) on the
surface of the moon in the vicinity of Surveyor 3, while the
piloted (by CM pilot Richard F. Gordon Jr.) command module
continued in orbit. An Apollo lunar surface experiments package
(ALSEP) was placed on the lunar surface, samples of the lunar
terrain were acquired, and various photographs of 16-, 35-, and
70-mm film sizes were exposed from the lunar and command
modules and by the astronauts during lunar surface activities.
The landing site was on the northwest rim of the Surveyor
crater, about 200 meters from the Surveyor 3 spacecraft, and
parts were taken from the Surveyor 3 for examination. 

The Apollo 12 spacecraft was launched on November 14, 1969,
and was injected into lunar orbit on November 18. The LM
(69-099C) landed on the moon on November 19 and returned to
the command module on November 20, after a total stay on
the Moon's surface of 31 hours 31 minutes, involving two