NASA-UAP-D001, Apollo 12 Transcript, 1969

Official Conclusion

Particles likely from spacecraft water boiler per crew self-assessment; DEDA anomaly attributed to EMI by Houston ground control.

Official Description

Apollo 12 was the fourth crewed U.S. mission to the Moon and the second to land astronauts on the lunar surface. This document is an excerpt from the Apollo 12 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription, November 1969, highlighting two periods in which astronauts reported observing unidentified phenomenon: a one hour period on the fifth day, and a two minute period on the sixth day. These transcripts contain contemporaneous observations by the flight crew reacting to unidentified phenomenon. • Day 05, Hour 19, Minute 14, Second 58 through Day 05, Hour 20, Minute 12, Second 14: o At 05:19:27:25, the pilot of the Lunar Module (LMP-LM), Astronaut Alan L. Bean, described observing particles and flashes of light “sailing off in space” via the onboard Alignment Optical Telescope (AOT). He characterized these phenomenon as “escaping the Moon.” • Day 06, Hour 00, Minute 21, Second 42 through Day 06, Hour 00, Minute 23, Second 33: o Mission Commander, Charles “Pete” Conrad, described observing floating debris outside the lunar module, which had been illuminated by the module’s onboard tracking light. At 06:00:21:51, Conrad assessed that the tracking light had burnt out because he could no longer see the debris from the module.

Key Findings

• →At mission elapsed time 05:19:27:25, LMP Alan Bean reported seeing 'particles of light, flashes of light' through the AOT in the dark quadrant, which he initially thought were droplets from the spacecraft's water boiler.
• →Bean noted the particles appeared to be 'escaping the Moon' and moving rapidly toward the stars, but himself proposed the water boiler as a likely mundane explanation.
• →At 06:00:21:51, Commander Pete Conrad reported floating debris outside the LM that had previously been illuminated by the module's tracking light, and assessed the tracking light had burned out.
• →Houston ground control confirmed the tracking light appeared electrically active ('current indicates your tracking light is on'), suggesting a discrepancy between instrument readings and visual observation.
• →A separate anomalous observation was reported by the LMP regarding an 'all 8s flash' pulsing on the AGS DEDA registers, which Houston attributed to electromagnetic interference (EMI) seen during spacecraft testing at Bethpage.

Extracted Entities