NASA transcript lists a backup crew for Apollo 12.
I first heard of the Apollo backup crew on the Clyde Lewis radio show, Ground Zero in 2016. Clyde’s guest was noted UFO researcher Richard Dolan. During the interview, he played an audio clip (linked below) he had gotten from contacts in the aerospace industrial community regarding a conversation from Pete Conrad on Apollo 12 to mission control inquiring about a sighting of objects following them on the way to the moon. Incredibly, besides the reason of spent boosters and ejected panels, at the end of the exchange, it was suggested that maybe they were being followed by a “backup crew.”
After some banter back and forth, here is the explanation given to them from the Mission Control in the transcript:
036:12:07 Carr: Roger, Pete. That thing you saw off the hatch, at a roll of 35 degrees, we figured there's probably three possible answers. Number 1: it could be the S-IVB, or possibly a SLA panel, or it could be the backup crew flying trail on you.
036:12:24 Conrad: Roger. Actually we have two objects out there. One's not anywhere near as bright as the other, so I think the real bright one's the S-IVB and the other one's probably a SLA panel. They're about 20 degrees apart. And as far as the backup crew goes, tell them we'll meet them on the back side of the moon.
One odd thing about this exchange, besides being an amazing admission of a hereto unknown event of the Apollo moon missions, is that this conversation was not on the Apollo Flight Journal website several years ago. When it was reorganized with a new layout a while back, it was added. My initial searches could not find it originally, but it has been returned to the official transcript. I assumed at the time it was too hot to released to the public and was edited out.
Was this an inside joke or was it inside baseball? Having a backup crew in space with the main crew on the flight to the moon adds a whole new dimension to the Apollo moon missions. Where was this other crew launched from? What type of crafts were they flying? Ships from a secret space program?
But it does not end with the backup crew acknowledgment. In the final exchange about this issue, the following was said:
36:26:51 Conrad: That could be true but, gee whiz, when we turned around, I saw one of those SLA panels leaving the area at a high rate of speed; it looked to me like it was leaving us pretty - pretty rapid clip, like it got a lot more than a foot per second or so.
036:27:21 Carr: Well, since we don't really have any idea how they left or what their trajectory could be, it's kind of tough really to say just what the heck that could be.
036:27:33 Gordon: Okay. We'll assume it's friendly anyway, okay?
036:27:37 Carr: Roger. If it makes any noises, it's probably just wind in the rigging.
036:27:37 Carr: Roger. If it makes any noises, it's probably just wind in the rigging.
036:27:41 Conrad: Okay. Understand.
Most likely inside baseball on this one. Noises? In the vacuum of space where no sound is transmitted? Wind in the rigging? Mission controller, Jerry Carr (who would command Skylab 4) seems to be talking in code. And Conrad states that he understands what noises and “wind in the rigging” means. Glad he does because I have no idea what he is talking about. If not code, then what are they trying to say? Too cryptic to be a joke.
(The “friendly” comment was made by astronaut Dick Gordon, on board Apollo 12.)
Now, compare the transcript above to the Ground Zero broadcast and you will see how heavily edited the transcript is by NASA. Link HERE. There is actually more detail in Clyde Lewis’s audio clip.
Interjected into all of this are comments made by the NASA Public Affairs Office attempting to expand on what is going on here and making a poor attempt of it. No statements explaining the meaning of the backup crew reference, only that Dave Scott (Apollo 15) working nearby, smiled at the comment. Were they using this to imply it was a big inside joke? If so, they failed. And Conrad mentions the backups in a matter of fact style with no inflection of voice implying a joke. Likewise, the “wind in the rigging” remark is not addressed at all.
So we are left with another mystery from NASA. It is interesting that they would release the transcript of NASA personnel discussing extra astronauts in space and then the notion of meeting up with them at the moon. NASA did of course have backup crews for each flight, but the public was left with the impression they were available in case something happened to a scheduled crew member such as illness or death. The logistical issues of a separate launch from a location other than the Kennedy Space Center and keep it under wraps would be an enormous undertaking. It seems implausible but here they are talking about it. Did it really happen and will we ever know?
Apollo Flight Journal Link with audio clips:
