Lightning Strikes Apollo 12 Twice Within Moments | NASA's Unexplained Files
Video from the channel Science Channel about Apollo 12, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 3:36. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.
Excerpt from the series NASA's Unexplained Files that revisits the launch of Apollo 12 from the Kennedy Space Center in November 1969. A few seconds after liftoff, a lightning bolt strikes the vehicle, and less than 30 seconds later a second strike causes systems to fail and triggers a cascade of alarms.
Alan Bean, the lunar module pilot, recalls that he had never seen so many warning lights lit up. Commander Pete Conrad decides not to abort because the Saturn V stays on course; the systems recover and Houston gives the green light for translunar injection.
The second part raises, in a mysterious tone, some objects that Dick Gordon saw passing by the window after separating from the lunar module. NASA attributed them to debris from the spacecraft itself, an explanation the program presents as disputed.