Apollo 12 was struck by lightning twice in the first 52 seconds of flight, filling the spacecraft with warning lights and turning Mission Control’s data into nonsense — until a young controller named John Aaron recognised an obscure failure pattern and calmly said: “Try SCE to Aux.”

Apollo 12 was hit by lightning at 36 and 52 seconds after launch, knocking fuel cells offline and scrambling its telemetry. EECOM controller John Aaron recognised the failure pattern from a test a year earlier and called 'SCE to Aux'; Alan Bean flipped the obscure switch and the mission was saved. The post Apollo 12 was struck by lightning twice in the first 52 seconds of flight, filling the spacecraft with warning lights and turning Mission Control’s data into nonsense — until a young controlle