Apollo 12
A pinpoint landing beside an old robot, and the discovery of KREEP.
Key facts
- Agency
- NASA (United States)
- Type of mission
- Crewed landing and sample return
- Target
- The Moon: Oceanus Procellarum
- Launched
- 14 November 1969
- Samples returned
- 34.3 kg of rock and soil
- Status
- Completed 1969
Apollo 12 was struck by lightning twice in the first minute after launch, yet Pete Conrad and Alan Bean went on to land on 19 November 1969 within walking distance of Surveyor 3, a robot lander that had arrived in Oceanus Procellarum, the Ocean of Storms, two and a half years earlier. That precision showed that later crews could be sent to particular geological targets.
The astronauts made two moonwalks and collected 34.3 kilograms of samples. They also cut parts off Surveyor 3, including its camera, so engineers could see how materials had survived years on the lunar surface.
What the rocks showed
The Apollo 12 basalts are about 3.1 to 3.3 billion years old, several hundred million years younger than those of Apollo 11. So the lunar seas had not all filled at once: volcanoes kept erupting for a long time.
In the soil, scientists found a strange material rich in potassium (chemical symbol K), rare earth elements (REE) and phosphorus (P). They named it KREEP. It is thought to be the last dregs of the lunar magma ocean, where elements that do not fit easily into common minerals became concentrated. KREEP is concentrated in one region of the near side, and its signature helps place lunar meteorites on the map.
Why it matters to meteorites
Some lunar meteorites are rich in KREEP and must come from the same region as Apollo 12 and Apollo 14.
Key dates
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 14 November 1969 | Apollo 12 launched and was struck by lightning twice during ascent. |
| 19 November 1969 | Conrad and Bean landed in the Ocean of Storms, close to Surveyor 3. |
| 24 November 1969 | The crew splashed down with 34.3 kg of samples. |
See where this mission fits among all the others in the mission timeline.
Did you know?
Apollo 12 landed so accurately that the crew could walk over to a robot that had landed two and a half years before.
The name KREEP comes from potassium (K), rare earth elements (REE) and phosphorus (P).