The Smiling crew of Apollo 12
40 years ago this week, Apollo 12 started with a bang. Two bangs really. On November 14, 1969 at 11:22 am EST Apollo 12 launched in a thunder storm. Not thought to be an issue, what with the all Navy crew aboard. The mighty Apollo-Saturn V AS-507 thundered into the clouds in a down-pouring rain.
Seconds into the flight, not one, but two bolts of lightning took advantage of the exhaust trail leading to the ground and passed through the ascending rocket. The primitive solid-state electronics in the Command service module did not respond well to 50,000+ volts. (although they survived better than modern electronics would.) Immediately every caution and warning light in the CM lit up, with buzzers and horns. The crew was at a loss as to what had went wrong.
At Mission control in Houston, Tx., telemetry had dropped out and controllers were looking at gibberish on their screens. All was confusion.
Finally, after what seemed hours, a controller called the flight director and asked if they could have the crew try switching SCE to auxiliary. The cap-com called up “Try SCE to AUX.”
“FCE to AUX? I don’t know what that is…” Pete replied.  ” No, SCE, S as in SAM,” said the Cap-Com.
From the far right seat in the CSM Alan Bean said ” I know what that is!”, and reaching behind himself, flipped the switch marked SCE to the auxiliary position. SCE (Signal Conditioner Equipment) switch returned Telemetry signals back to the flight controllers. ” I think we need some more all-weather testing!”, Pete said. Â Alan Bean had certainly helped to save the mission, and save the day.
During all the commotion, Pete Conrad had his gloved hand on the abort handle. He had the guts, and fortitude to not pull it until he knew what was going on. That, my friends, is why these guys were, and are, my heroes.
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Tamarra has been busy cooking up some pressure suit boots. These are the best I have ever seen. I have included some photos from the Garber facility of actual A7L pressure suit boots. You can see the stitching and shape is perfect. When these are attached to my replica soles its going to be awesome. 
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