Comments on: Apollo 12 splashdown footage recovered

By: Mike Mullins

Mike Mullins — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:10:35 +0000

Was onboard for the recovery. Upon splashdown , the capsule took on seawater due to one of the three flotation bubbles bursting.I was the sailor who used a garden water hose to siphon the water out of the capsule after it came onboard Hornet,Siphoned it out just like we used to do gas out of a car. Was a little worried about contamination since the seawater came out of the capsule.However,no negative lifelong effects LOL. Also retrieved a nice piece of the mylar foil from the capsule, with the permission of NASA.Great memories of Apollo 11 and 12
Michael Mullins
Bedford Texas
mullinsmd48@tx.rr.com

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 21:25:16 +0000

Agreed, Mark. The quality of the original SSTV pictures was noticeably superior to the broadcast images.

By: Mark Martin

Mark Martin — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 18:13:34 +0000

Nigel Depledge says:

“Having said that, the quality would not have been what we would call â€œgoodâ€ in the first place.”

Yes, I’m certainly aware of that. Nevertheless, as can be seen on the following page:

http://www.honeysucklecreek.net/Apollo_11/tapes/Search_for_SSTV_Tapes.pdf

the quality of the raw, unprocessed signal was significantly better than what was seen in living rooms.

By: Brugte biler

Brugte biler — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 11:01:30 +0000

I remember avidly watching all available footage from the moon missions. To me, the most remarkable thing about this footage of Apollo 12 landing is realizing, again, how tiny the space capsules were. Has our PC-topia forgotten that there are real risks involved in any venture that charts unknown territory..

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 10:04:10 +0000

Ray, I had a look through Chaikin’s A Man on the Moon to try to find a reference to the distance between Intrepid and Suveyor 3. The only time he mentions the distance between the two craft, Pete Conrad and Al Bean are 300 feet from Surveyor, and Intrepid looks “like a tiny replica”, so I would guess it was 600 yards, not 600 feet.

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 09:47:16 +0000

Ray, oh, yes, indeed!

I have a picture that I use as some-time wallpaper that was taken by one of the Apollo 12 astronauts. It shows Surveyor 3 in the foreground and the Apollo 12 LM (Intrepid) in the background.

You can even see where Surveyor 3 bounced and skidded a little on its landing, from the way the regolith preserved the imprints of its feet.

By: Ray Gray

Ray Gray — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 00:44:38 +0000

The biggest WoW factor from Apollo 12 was how close the LEM landed near the Surveyor Robot Probe resting on the lunar surface. Was that 600 feet or 600 yards?