Editing Apollo 12 (section)

==Aftermath and spacecraft location==
[[File:20180320 Apollo 12 Virginia Air and Space Center-2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Apollo 12 CM ''Yankee Clipper'' on display at the [[Virginia Air and Space Center]] in [[Hampton, Virginia]]]]

After the mission, Conrad urged his crewmates to join him in the [[Skylab]] program, seeing in it the best chance of flying in space again. Bean did so—Conrad commanded [[Skylab 2]], the first crewed mission to the space station, while Bean commanded [[Skylab 3]].{{sfn|Chaikin 1995|pp=283–284, 555, 580}} Gordon, though, still hoped to walk on the Moon and remained with the Apollo program, serving as backup commander of Apollo 15. He was the likely commander of [[Canceled Apollo missions#Follow-on lunar missions|Apollo 18]], but that mission was canceled and he did not fly in space again.{{sfn|Chaikin 1995|pp=283–284, 400–401, 589}}

The Apollo 12 command module ''Yankee Clipper'', was displayed at the [[Paris Air Show]] and was then placed at NASA's [[Langley Research Center]] in [[Hampton, Virginia]]; ownership was transferred to the [[Smithsonian]] in July 1971. It is on display at the [[Virginia Air and Space Center]] in Hampton.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/spacecraft/location/cm.cfm|title=Location of Apollo Command Modules|publisher=Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum|access-date=August 27, 2019|archive-date=June 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601052353/https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/spacecraft/location/cm.cfm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Apollo/Skylab ASTP and Shuttle Orbiter Major End Items|date=March 1978|url=https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6473665/Apollo-Skylab-ASTP-and-Shuttle-Orbiter-Major-End.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6473665/Apollo-Skylab-ASTP-and-Shuttle-Orbiter-Major-End.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|publisher=[[NASA]]|page=5}}</ref>

Mission Control had remotely fired the service module's thrusters after jettison, hoping to have it skip off the atmosphere and enter a high-apogee orbit, but the lack of tracking data confirming this caused it to conclude it most likely burned up in the atmosphere at the time of CM re-entry.{{sfn|Mission Report|p=5-12}} The S-IVB is in a solar orbit that is sometimes affected by the Earth.<ref>{{cite news|last=Adler|first=Doug|title=How a long-gone Apollo rocket returned to Earth|date=May 11, 2020|newspaper=[[Astronomy (magazine)|Astronomy]]|access-date=February 1, 2021|url=https://astronomy.com/news/2020/05/how-a-long-gone-apollo-rocket-returned-to-earth}}</ref>

The ascent stage of LM ''Intrepid'' impacted the Moon November 20, 1969, at 22:17:17.7 UT (5:17{{nbsp}}pm EST){{spaces}}{{Coord|3.94|S|21.20|W|type:event_globe:moon|name=Apollo 12 Intrepid lunar module impact}}.{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|p=576}} In 2009, the [[Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter]] (LRO) photographed the Apollo 12 landing site, where the descent stage, ALSEP, Surveyor{{nbsp}}3 spacecraft, and astronaut footpaths remain.<ref>{{cite web |date=July 9, 2013 |editor-last=Garner |editor-first=Robert |title=Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Looks at Apollo 12, Surveyor 3 Landing Sites |url=https://www.nasa.gov/missions/lunar-reconnaissance-orbiter-looks-at-apollo-12-surveyor-3-landing-sites/ |access-date=November 11, 2023 |publisher=NASA}}</ref> In 2011, the LRO returned to the landing site at a lower altitude to take higher resolution photographs.<ref name="NASA LRO">{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/apollo-sites.html |title=NASA Spacecraft Images Offer Sharper Views of Apollo Landing Sites |last1=Neal-Jones |first1=Nancy |last2=Zubritsky |first2=Elizabeth |last3=Cole |first3=Steve |editor-last=Garner |editor-first=Robert |date=September 6, 2011 |publisher=NASA |id=Goddard Release No. 11-058 (co-issued as NASA HQ Release No. 11-289) |access-date=November 7, 2011}}</ref>