|
Alan Bean : Maybe we weren't dignified enough to be
heroes. It wouldn't matter. 'Cause we were the
second mission to land on the moon. History's
ultimate anticlimax. But somehow, I fit right
in. in fact, flying with Pete and Dick was the
sweetest thing about the mission for me. We were
a true team. At one point, I even kind of
saved the day.
I didn't know what to expect. I was a complete
rookie, remember. Sure we’d done countless
simulated launches so I did the same things I
did during all of those.
Alan Bean : Roger, STC. Main
bus tie bat
B/C switch, on, up.
Alan Bean : I kept busy checking the console, making
sure my end of our command module, Yankee
Clipper, was ready to go.
Pete Conrad : Looks like this launch is gonna be a wet
one.
Richard
Gordon : No big deal for an all-Navy crew. We can
handle it.
Alan Bean : The rain was considered a bother, but
nothing to worry about.
Mission control : Apollo 12, you are go for launch. Go
for launch.
Pete Conrad : Roger. SDC Go for launch.
Alan Bean : Me and my best buddies were ready for the
adventure of a lifetime.
Pete Conrad : Al Bean, you are going to the moon.
Alan Bean : Y'all can come along if you like.
Mission control : 13, 12, 11, ten, nine--We have ignition
sequence start. The engines are on. Four, three,
two, one, zero.
Alan Bean : The first few moments after liftoff,
you're vibrating pretty good.
Pete Conrad : The clock is running.
Alan Bean : Then you really start to move.
Mission control : Clear the tower.
Pete Conrad : Roger. Clear the tower. I got a
pitch-and-roll program, and this baby is really
going. Roll complete.
Mission control : Mark one bravo.
Pete Conrad : Got you on that.
Alan Bean : This thing moves, doesn't it?
Pete Conrad : Baby!
Alan Bean : We had just over half a minute of
trouble-free launch and then all hell busted
loose.
Pete Conrad : What the hell was that? I just lost a
whole bunch of stuff.
Richard
Gordon : We just had a whole bunch of buses
drop out.
What have we got here? A/C bus 1 light, all the
fuel cells.
Pete Conrad : Okay, Houston, now, we just lost the
platform, gang. I don't know what happened. We
had everything drop out. I got three fuel cell
lights, an A/C bus light, a fuel cell
disconnect, A/C bus overload 1 and 2, main bus A
and B out. We had some big
glitch here.
Alan Bean : I got A/C.
Pete Conrad : Got A/C? Yes maybe it's the indicator.
What's on the main bus?
Alan Bean : 24 volts. That's low.
Pete Conrad : We've got a short of some kind, but I
can't believe that's accurate.
Mission control : Flight, EECOM.
Gerry
Griffin : Go, EECOM.
John
Aaron : I think it's a fuel cell bus failure.
They've been thrown off-line somehow. That must
be why we're getting
garbage
here. Can they try SCE to aux?
Alan Bean : Gerry Griffin had never heard that command
before. I’m pretty sure most of the people in
Mission Control hadn't.
Gerry
Griffin : Tell them.
Mission control : Apollo 12, Houston. Try SCE to
auxiliary. Over.
Pete Conrad : FCE to auxiliary? What the hell is that?
Alan Bean : I'm not sure even Pete knew what that was,
but one person did.
Alan Bean : I know what that is. SCE to aux.
Mission control : We're getting good telemetry from you
guys again. Try to reset your fuel cells.
Alan Bean : Reset fuel cells.
Richard
Gordon : Wait for staging.
Pete Conrad : Wait for staging. Yes. Hang on. Okay,
Houston. GDC is good. We got a good S-2, gang.
Mission control : We copy that, Pete. You're looking
good.
Alan Bean : Poor Gerry Griffin. We were his first
mission as flight director and he had dealt
along with more malfunctions than anybody had
ever seen.
Pete Conrad : Ok, now we'll
straighten out
our problems here.
Richard
Gordon : I don't know what happened. I'm not sure
we didn't get hit by lightning.
Alan Bean : That's exactly what had happened. Before
even our first stage had finished doing its job,
observers back on the ground later reported that
not just one but two bolts of lightning rode our
exhaust contrail all the way back down to the
pad and hit the tower. |
