Editing Apollo 12 (section)

== Preparation ==
=== Site selection ===
The landing site selection process for Apollo 12 was greatly informed by the site selection for Apollo 11. There were rigid standards for the possible Apollo 11 landing sites, in which scientific interest was not a major factor: they had to be close to the lunar equator and not on the periphery of the portion of the lunar surface visible from Earth; they had to be relatively flat and without major obstructions along the path the [[Apollo Lunar Module|Lunar Module]] (LM) would fly to reach them, their suitability confirmed by photographs from [[Lunar Orbiter]] probes. Also desirable was the presence of another suitable site further west in case the mission was delayed, and the Sun would have risen too high in the sky at the original site for desired lighting conditions. The need for three days to recycle if a launch had to be scrubbed meant that only three of the five suitable sites found were designated as potential landing sites for Apollo 11, of which the Apollo 11 landing site in the [[Sea of Tranquility]] was the easternmost. Since Apollo 12 was to attempt the first lunar landing if Apollo 11 failed, both sets of astronauts trained for the same sites.{{sfn|Phinney 2015|pp=83–84}}

With the success of Apollo 11, it was initially contemplated that Apollo 12 would land at the site next further west from the Sea of Tranquility, in [[Sinus Medii]]. However, NASA planning coordinator Jack Sevier and engineers at the [[Manned Spaceflight Center]] at Houston argued for a landing close enough to the crater in which the [[Surveyor 3]] probe had landed in 1967 to allow the astronauts to cut parts from it for return to Earth. The site was otherwise suitable and had scientific interest. Given that Apollo 11 had landed several miles off-target, though, some NASA administrators feared Apollo 12 would land far enough away that the astronauts could not reach the probe, and the agency would be embarrassed. Nevertheless, the ability to perform pinpoint landings was essential if Apollo's exploration program was to be carried out, and on July 25, 1969, Apollo Program Manager [[Samuel C. Phillips|Samuel Phillips]] designated what became known as [[Surveyor (crater)|Surveyor crater]] as the landing site, despite the unanimous opposition of members of two site selection boards.{{sfn|Phinney 2015|p=84}}{{sfn|Harland 2011|p=18}}

To locate Surveyor 3, NASA invited [[Ewen Whitaker]], who together with [[Gerard Kuiper]] worked on multiple Moon atlases. Whitaker had found the [[Surveyor 1]] landing site with better precision than NASA. By studying images from Surveyor 3 and comparing them with photographs of thousands of similar craters under the microscope, he identified two rocks near Surveyor 3, that led to the identification of the probe's location.<ref name=snark>{{cite journal |last1=Clow |first1=David |title="A Pinpoint on the Ocean of Storms: Finding the Target for Apollo 12" (with Ewen A. Whitaker) |journal=Quest, the History of Spaceflight Quarterly: 10:4 |date=1 January 2003 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6529975 |access-date=18 November 2024|pages=31–43|url-access=registration}}</ref>

=== Training and preparation ===
[[File:Apollo 12 Commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean rehearse lunar surface activities.jpg|thumb|Conrad and Bean rehearse their lunar surface activities before the mission.]]

The Apollo 12 astronauts spent five hours in mission-specific training for every hour they expected to spend in flight on the mission, a total exceeding 1,000 hours per crew member.{{sfn|Press Kit|p=73}} Conrad and Bean received more mission-specific training than Apollo 11's [[Neil Armstrong]] and [[Buzz Aldrin]] had.{{sfn|Harland 2011|p=77}} This was in addition to the 1,500 hours of training they received as backup crew members for Apollo 9. The Apollo 12 training included over 400 hours per crew member in simulators of the [[Apollo Command Module|Command Module]] (CM) and of the LM. Some of the simulations were linked in real time to flight controllers in Mission Control. To practice landing on the Moon, Conrad flew the [[Lunar Landing Training Vehicle]] (LLTV),{{sfn|Press Kit|p=73}} training in which continued to be authorized even though Armstrong had been forced to bail out of a similar vehicle in 1968, just before it crashed.<ref>{{cite web|last=Jones|first=Eric M.|title=Lunar Landing Training Vehicle NASA 952|date=April 29, 2006|access-date=January 4, 2021|url=https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/LLTV-952.html|publisher=[[NASA]]|work=Apollo Lunar Surface Journal}}</ref>

Soon after being assigned as Apollo 12 crew commander, Conrad met with NASA geologists and told them that the training for lunar surface activities would be conducted much as Apollo 11's, but there was to be no publicity or involvement by the media. Conrad felt he had been abused by the press during Gemini, and the sole Apollo 11 geology field trip had turned into a near-fiasco, with a large media contingent present, some getting in the way—the astronauts had trouble hearing each other due to a hovering press helicopter. After the return of Apollo 11 in July 1969, more time was allotted for geology, but the astronauts' focus was on getting time in the simulators without being preempted by the Apollo 11 crew. On the six Apollo 12 geology field trips, the astronauts would practice as if on the Moon, collecting samples and documenting them with photographs, while communicating with a CAPCOM and geologists who were out of sight in a nearby tent. Afterwards, the astronauts' performance in choosing samples and taking photographs would be critiqued. To the frustration of the astronauts, the scientists kept changing the photo documentation procedures; after the fourth or fifth such change, Conrad required that there be no more.{{sfn|Phinney 2015|pp=101–106}} After the return of Apollo 11, the Apollo 12 crew was able to view the lunar samples, and be briefed on them by scientists.{{sfn|Phinney 2015|p=151}}

[[File:Astronauts Pete Conrad (on left) and Alan Bean are shown in the Apollo Lunar Module Mission Simulator.jpg|thumb|left|Conrad and Bean in the LM simulator]]

As Apollo 11 was targeted for an ellipse-shaped landing zone, rather than at a specific point, there was no planning for geology traverses, the designated tasks to be done at sites of the crew's choosing. For Apollo 12, before the mission, some of NASA's geology team met with the crew and Conrad suggested they lay out possible routes for him and Bean. The result was four traverses, based on four potential landing points for the LM. This was the start of geology traverse planning that on later missions became a considerable effort involving several organizations.{{sfn|Phinney 2015|p=90}}

The stages of the lunar module, LM–6, were delivered to [[Kennedy Space Center]] (KSC) on March 24, 1969, and were mated to each other on April 28. Command module CM–108 and service module SM–108 were delivered to KSC on March 28, and were mated to each other on April 21. Following installation of gear and testing, the launch vehicle, with the spacecraft atop it, was rolled out to Launch Complex 39A on September 8, 1969.{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|p=330}} The training schedule was complete, as planned, by November 1, 1969; activities after that date were intended as refreshers. The crew members felt that the training, for the most part, was adequate preparation for the Moon mission.{{sfn|Mission Report|p=9–1}}