Apollo 12 Transcript, 1969

This NASA document is part of the air-to-ground voice transcript of the Apollo 12 mission in 1969, covering tapes 90 and 93. It records routine exchanges between Houston and the crews of the command module Yankee Clipper and the lunar module Intrepid about state vector uplinks, lift-off time, battery charging and rendezvous tracking. One crew member reports flashes of light and particles that appear to stream away from the Moon. Houston attributes a pulsing AGS display to probable electromagnetic interference, and the crew concludes that the LM tracking light has burned out.

From the source: Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: 1969, Moon. Apollo 12 was the fourth crewed U.S. mission to the Moon and the second to land astronauts on the lunar surface. This document is an excerpt from the Apollo 12 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription, November 1969, highlighting two periods in which astronauts reported observing unidentified phenomenon: a one hour period on the fifth day, and a two minute period on the sixth day. These transcripts contain contemporaneous observations by the flight crew reacting to unidentified phenomenon. • Day 05, Hour 19, Minute 14, Second 58 through Day 05, Hour 20, Minute 12, Second 14: o At 05:19:27:25, the pilot of the Lunar Module (LMP-LM), Astronaut Alan L. Bean, described observing particles and flashes of light “sailing off in space” via the onboard Alignment Optical Telescope (AOT). He characterized these phenomenon as “escaping the Moon.” • Day 06, Hour 00, Minute 21, Second 42 through Day 06, Hour 00, Minute 23, Second 33: o Mission Commander, Charles “Pete” Conrad, described observing floating debris outside the lunar module, which had been illuminated by the module’s onboard tracking light. At 06:00:21:51, Conrad assessed that the tracking light had burnt out because he could no longer see the debris from the module.

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Tape 90/9
Page 748
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Clipper, Houston. We'll give that data a good
evaluation before we do anything with it.
Houston, Intrepid.
Intrepid, Houston. GO.
Got sort of an interesting thing going on AGS
right now. I didn't notice earlier, but it may
just be because the lights i:,.re brighter now.
I'm getting an all 81 s flash on both the address
and the information registers at about one-
fifth the brilliance of the normal numbers. And
a - It's pulsing every second.
Roger, Al.
If I turn dmm the illumination level just a
little bit, it's not noticeable.
Hello, Houston ; Intrepid. You ready for my RCS
hot fire?
Intrepid, Houston. Roger. Fire aw~.
Okay.
Intrepid, Houston.
Go.
Roger, Al. Fredo is here. He and I have both
seen that phenomena on your DEDA during t estin :',
of most a.11 the spacecrafts up at Bethpage, and
it's probably an EMI.
That's what ve' ve been talking about, but we
thought we'd just tcucb in on it.
When you go to your roll rate, roll lef't, pitch
up - -
Roger. I think TRW's got a v0rkup on this
problem.
Okay?
Here yo~ go, Houston, with roll, pit ch, and
yav.
Roger, Pete.
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