Apollo 12 Launched for Its Lunar Landing Mission on November 14, 1969

Apollo 12 launched toward the Moon on November 14, 1969, with commander Pete Conrad, lunar module pilot Alan Bean and command module pilot Richard Gordon aboard. Conrad and Bean landed in the Ocean of Storms, while Gordon remained in lunar orbit.

Key details

• The landing site lay near Surveyor 3, a robotic lander that had been on the Moon for more than two years.
• The crew collected about 75 pounds of lunar rock samples, most of them basalt.
• The astronauts also brought back samples from Surveyor 3.
• Apollo 12 basalt samples indicate that the landing area is more than 3 billion years old.

Apollo 12 astronauts brought about 75 pounds of lunar rock samples back to Earth.

Why it matters

The crew's visit to Surveyor 3 gave researchers samples from a spacecraft that had spent more than two years on the lunar surface. The basalt collection also offered evidence about the age of the Ocean of Storms landing area.