Astronaut Training

We Participated in Some of the Testing and Checkout of the Space Suits We Would Wear

NASA built this device to simulate the experience of walking in the one-sixth gravity of the moon, by lifting five sixths of the combined weight of an astronaut, suit and backpack. I was the first to try out the device, and as you can see from the expression on my face, I became the first astronaut to experience a space-age wedgie.

We Learned as Much Geology as Possible in the Time Available Prior to Flight

Pete Conrad and I performed a simulated moonwalk in a lunar surface-like environment. We trained in locations that geologists believed would be the closest replicas available on earth to the surfaces they thought we would encounter on the moon, including volcanic areas of the western United States, Hawaii and Iceland.

We Simulated as Realistically as Possible All the Tasks We Would Perform on the Moon

One of the most important objectives of our Apollo 12 mission was to make a pinpoint landing near an unmanned Surveyor spacecraft, which had landed on the moon's surface some 33 months earlier. Pete and I practiced, with a mock-up, what we would do when we got to Surveyor III on the Ocean of Storms a few weeks later. I held the television camera and Pete cut the support members with a bolt cutter so that we could bring the camera back to earth for evaluation.

We Didn't Work All the Time

General Motors realized that astronauts were getting a lot of exposure in newspapers and magazines and on television. They decided that loaning us a new Corvette every year would get them a lot of excellent publicity. All of us thought this was a great idea. They were also nice enough to loan our wives another Chevrolet of their choice.