A lightning strike during Apollo 12's launch nearly doomed the mission, but a young technician's memory saved the day and allowed the moon landing to proceed.
Apollo 12 launch faces lightning strikes
On November 14, 1969, the Saturn V rocket carrying the Apollo 12 crew—Charles Conrad, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean—lifted off from Kennedy Space Center. The launch took place under overcast skies, light rain, and wind, conditions that would prove unexpectedly dangerous.Lightning strikes during ascent
The rocket was struck by lightning twice during its ascent, at 36.5 seconds and 52 seconds after liftoff. The first strike followed the rocket's exhaust plume to the ground, while the second would have remained in the cloud had it not been for the rocket's presence.Mission nearly halted by electrical failure
At 36 seconds into the flight, the guidance computer failed, and Houston lost contact with the spacecraft. Flight director Gerry Griffin considered aborting the mission, which had been intended as the second manned moon landing in history. Without clear data, it was unclear which systems were still working.Young technician saves the mission
John Aaron, a 24-year-old NASA engineer, recognized the problem from a previous test. He instructed the crew to switch the signal processing electronics to an auxiliary position. Astronaut Alan Bean followed the instruction, restoring data transmission in Houston about a minute after the second strike.Mission continues and lands on the Moon
The Apollo 12 crew continued their flight, successfully landing on the Moon on November 19, 1969, and returning to Earth on November 24. The incident changed NASA’s understanding of lightning risks, showing that rockets could trigger lightning during flight in conditions that seemed unremarkable on the ground.
