NASA Apollo 12 Mission Launch Countdown Relive History: An Apollo 12 Crew Tribute The Apollo 12 full mission begins with the countdown and eventual launch on November 14th, 1969 on the second lunar landing mission. Onboard are astronauts Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Alan Bean. This video covers the last 3 hours of the countdown through to launch and orbit. The launch is infamous as the one that was struck by lightning, which caused electrical issues in the spacecraft but not to the Saturn V. Aud