The second lightning strike stayed in the cloud and had no ground contact, but it shut down the rocket's navigation system, said Krider. A diagram of Apollo 12's command module main control panel.

On Nov. 14, 2969, NASA's Apollo 12 mission launched for the moon — and got struck twice by lightning just seconds after the rocket lifted off.

The lightning strike was far from the most exciting moment on Apollo 12’s mission. It was both an interesting and entertaining flight, and you can relive it in real time (plus 45 years)!

The power in the command module had completely failed, overloaded by the two lightning strikes. Battery backups had come online, but would only last for a couple hours. ... "Apollo 12, Houston, try ...

Lightning struck Apollo 12's rocket, a Saturn V, twice during the launch. While the astronauts had some trouble with the displays on board after the lightning strikes, ...

Apollo 12 One of the more famous cases of aircraft-initiated lightning is the Apollo 12 launch at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in November 1969. The Saturn V rocket was struck not once but ...

He heard the historic words from the crew of Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve, the tension of the Apollo 11 landing, the Apollo 12 lightning strike, and of course the crew of Apollo 13's safe return home.

I magine a rocket struck by lightning twice within a minute after launch, but the manned mission continued – to the moon, no less. On Nov. 14, 1969, 55 years ago today, the Apollo 12 mission ...