Pete Conrad the prime crew on the third following mission. If the swap of 8 and 9 had not occurred, Conrad might have commanded Apollo 11, the first mission to land on the Moon. On November 14, 1969, Apollo 12 was launched with Conrad as Commander, Dick Gordon as Command Module Pilot, and Alan Bean as Lunar Module Pilot. The launch was the most harrowing of the Apollo program, as a series of lightning strikes just after liftoff temporarily knocked out power and guidance in the Command Module. Five days later, after stepping onto the lunar surface, Conrad joked about his own
Little West (lunar crater) Little West (lunar crater) Little West is a small crater (30-meter diameter) in Mare Tranquillitatis on the Moon, east of the Apollo 11 landing site known as Tranquility Base. The Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" approximately 60 meters west of Little West Crater on July 20, 1969. This is the crater Neil Armstrong mentions during his final descent onto the lunar surface. The south-west rim of the crater marks the farthest point that either astronaut traveled from the lunar module during their time on the lunar surface for the Apollo 11