John Aaron Saved Apollo 12 With 1 Switch After 2 Lightning Strikes
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · May 23
John Aaron Saved Apollo 12 With 1 Switch After 2 Lightning Strikes
2 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · May 23
Summary
At 36.5 and 52 seconds after liftoff in 1969, lightning strikes scrambled Apollo 12 telemetry, knocked three fuel cells offline and pushed flight director Gerry Griffin toward a possible abort.
John Aaron, the EECOM on console, recognized the garbled readings as a low-voltage failure in the signal conditioning equipment and told controllers to try “SCE to auxiliary.”
Alan Bean found the obscure switch aboard the spacecraft and flipped it, restoring usable telemetry so Houston could recover the fuel cells and later realign the guidance platform in orbit.
The switch did not by itself save the moon mission: NASA committed to translunar injection only after orbital checks confirmed Apollo 12 could continue safely.
A February 1970 investigation concluded the Saturn V and its exhaust plume had likely triggered the strikes, prompting tighter NASA launch-weather rules around thunderstorm clouds.