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njhockey26
Guest
Hi all, this is my first post but I’ve enjoyed reading the articles on this site for a couple years now. I’ve recently become extremely interested in NASA’s early days (if only I could have been alive for them!), and had a couple questions about Apollo 12:
Why was the mission launched during a storm? Was this standard procedure, and were any other missions of that era launched in such conditions? I ask because it seems like common sense that a spacecraft shouldn’t be launched in rain, let alone when the exhaust plume could trigger lightning. Of course, hindsight’s 20/20.
As a follow-up, as I understand it the fuel cells on the spacecraft went offline because of the two lightning strikes, but the Saturn itself was unharmed. If the IU on the Saturn V had been affected in any way, what could this have done to the mission, and, in addition, was there an analog to the “SCE to Aux” switch that the crew could have used to save the booster?
Thanks in advance for the help!
Why was the mission launched during a storm? Was this standard procedure, and were any other missions of that era launched in such conditions? I ask because it seems like common sense that a spacecraft shouldn’t be launched in rain, let alone when the exhaust plume could trigger lightning. Of course, hindsight’s 20/20.
As a follow-up, as I understand it the fuel cells on the spacecraft went offline because of the two lightning strikes, but the Saturn itself was unharmed. If the IU on the Saturn V had been affected in any way, what could this have done to the mission, and, in addition, was there an analog to the “SCE to Aux” switch that the crew could have used to save the booster?
Thanks in advance for the help!