John Aaron's 'SCE to Aux' Call Saved Apollo 12 After 2 Lightning Strikes

1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 21

Two lightning strikes hit Apollo 12 within 52 seconds of its 1969 launch, knocking fuel cells offline, scrambling telemetry and making the spacecraft appear lost during ascent.
John Aaron, an EECOM controller in his 20s, recognized the garbled data pattern from a Kennedy test a year earlier and ordered the obscure fix: switch the Signal Conditioning Equipment to auxiliary.
Alan Bean found the small cockpit toggle and flipped it, restoring readable telemetry and showing the spacecraft was largely intact despite the warning lights and guidance disruption.
Mission controllers then recovered the fuel cells and realigned the guidance platform in orbit, allowing Apollo 12 to continue to the Moon and land five days later.
The episode became a classic NASA near-miss, with Aaron's call earning him the 'steely-eyed missile man' nickname and underscoring how deep technical knowledge can avert an abort.