On November 19, 1969, Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to land on the Moon, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission was commanded by Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr., with Richard F. Gordon Jr. as the Command Module Pilot and Alan L. Bean as the Lunar Module Pilot.

The launch was not without its challenges. Just 36 seconds after liftoff, the Saturn V rocket was struck by lightning twice, causing a temporary loss of power and telemetry. However, the quick thinking of flight controller John Aaron, who remembered a similar problem from a simulation, saved the day. He suggested a "SCE to AUX" switch, which restored telemetry and allowed the mission to continue.

Five days later, on November 24, Conrad and Bean successfully landed the Lunar Module (LM) Intrepid in the Moon's Ocean of Storms, near the Surveyor 3 probe, which had soft-landed on the Moon in 1967. This was the first precision landing on the Moon, demonstrating the ability to land close to a pre-selected location.

During their two moonwalks, Conrad and Bean deployed the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP), collected lunar samples, and even visited the Surveyor 3 probe, removing some of its parts to return to Earth for analysis. They spent a total of 31.5 hours on the lunar surface.

Meanwhile, Gordon remained in lunar orbit aboard the Command Module Yankee Clipper, conducting scientific observations and photographing landing sites for future missions.

The Apollo 12 mission successfully concluded on November 24, with the astronauts splashing down safely in the Pacific Ocean, where they were recovered by the USS Hornet. The mission further demonstrated the capabilities of the Apollo program and paved the way for more extensive lunar exploration in the missions that followed.