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.

.. 06 00 21 42
06 co 21 51
06 00 22 11
06 00 22 22
06 00 22 26
06 00 22 27
06 00 22 28
(
06 00 22 33
06 00 22 47
.06 00 22 53
06 00 22 59
06 00 23 11
06 00 23 19
06 00 23 26
06 00 23 33
)
CMP
CDR-IM
CC
LMP-LM
CC
LMP-LM
cc
CDR-LM
CC
CDR-IM
CC
CDR-IM
cc
CMP
CDR-LM
•
Tape 93/8
Page 778
But I don't have you in the sextant, That's
okay. Your blinking light's Just not blinking,
that's all.
Hey, Houston. It looks like our tracking
llght's burned out. Dick hasn't been able to
find us in this sextant. And on the first
nightside pass we had little bits and pieces
floating along vith us and we could tell that
the tracking light va.; flashing on them. And
we still have, I've presumed to think, bits
and pieces floating along and nothing' s flashing
on them, so I'm pretty sure it burned out.
Roger, Pete.
Yes, sir. Okay.
Hi, Intrepid.
Okay.
This is Houston. How'd your sweepdown fore
and aft go?
It's getting much cleaner in here running this
way; and, also, Yankee Clipper informs me he
bas the television all set up. When we come
around the hor~1, ·we' 11 come around with the
television on in VOX.
Roger .
Who knows, you may get to see the first
wbiffer<l.ill.
Roger, Pete. Our electrical watchers say that
the current indicates that your tracking light
is on.
Okay. Now ve just turned it off. How does the
current show that?
It - It sure does, Pete.
You're - they're - You're flying thr0ugh the
air b~ckward3, then, Pete, because I don't see
it.
Well, my ball tells me I'm pointed at you, Dick,
and so does my radar.