Today, 14 November, 2025 is the 56th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 12 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The morning was overcast with light rain and mild winds. At 11:22 EST, the rocket launched, and the spacecraft carrying Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, and Alan Bean began its climb out of Earth’s gravity well.
Thirty-seven seconds after launch, ground control heard Dick Gordon ask,
GORDON:
“What the hell was that!?"
CONRAD:
“Okay, we just lost the platform gang. I don’t know what happened here; we had everything in the world drop out."
“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."
The Saturn V rocket accelerating the astronauts away from the surface of the Earth had been hit by lightning. Twice.
Flight Controller, John Aaron, saw the bizarre telemetry from Apollo 12 and remembered a flight simulation that took place a year before. The simulated anomaly involved a system called Signal Conditioning Equipment (SCE). Aaron remembered that switching the SCE over to its auxiliary setting would allow it to continue to run on a lower, despite the weird signals it was receiving and sending out.
AARON:
“Apollo 12, Houston. Try SCE to auxiliary. Over”
CONRAD:
“What the hell is that?!"
“Say again, NCE to aux?"
.
.
.
AARON:
“SCE, SCE to auxiliary."
“MARK."
“One Charlie."
Alan Bean knew what the hell that was and flipped the SCE switch from NORM to AUX. Telemetry was restored and Apollo 12 was able to continue.
CONRAD:
“One Charlie."
AARON:
“Apollo 12, Houston. Go for staging."
CONRAD:
“… we had some really big glitch, gang."
Because of Aaron’s quick memory and Bean’s cockpit experience, Conrad and Bean were able to be the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.
I’d really like an SCE switch with NORM and AUX settings in my next EV…
The morning was overcast with light rain and mild winds. At 11:22 EST, the rocket launched, and the spacecraft carrying Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, and Alan Bean began its climb out of Earth’s gravity well.
Thirty-seven seconds after launch, ground control heard Dick Gordon ask,
GORDON:
“What the hell was that!?"
CONRAD:
“Okay, we just lost the platform gang. I don’t know what happened here; we had everything in the world drop out."
“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."
The Saturn V rocket accelerating the astronauts away from the surface of the Earth had been hit by lightning. Twice.
Flight Controller, John Aaron, saw the bizarre telemetry from Apollo 12 and remembered a flight simulation that took place a year before. The simulated anomaly involved a system called Signal Conditioning Equipment (SCE). Aaron remembered that switching the SCE over to its auxiliary setting would allow it to continue to run on a lower, despite the weird signals it was receiving and sending out.
AARON:
“Apollo 12, Houston. Try SCE to auxiliary. Over”
CONRAD:
“What the hell is that?!"
“Say again, NCE to aux?"
.
.
.
AARON:
“SCE, SCE to auxiliary."
“MARK."
“One Charlie."
Alan Bean knew what the hell that was and flipped the SCE switch from NORM to AUX. Telemetry was restored and Apollo 12 was able to continue.
CONRAD:
“One Charlie."
AARON:
“Apollo 12, Houston. Go for staging."
CONRAD:
“… we had some really big glitch, gang."
Because of Aaron’s quick memory and Bean’s cockpit experience, Conrad and Bean were able to be the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.
I’d really like an SCE switch with NORM and AUX settings in my next EV…
