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[i]The reason Apollo 12 was able to get into orbit was that the guidance system for the Saturn V, buried within the IU at the top of the S-IVB stage, was unafftected by the lightning. If its platform had tumbled, the Saturn would have gone out of control within a few seconds. Part of the reason the spacecraft was so affected by the lightning while the Saturn was not involved the spacecraft's greater exposure - it was positioned like a lightning rod - and part of it was luck, as Arabian emphatically pointed out. Neither the spacecraft nor the launch vehicle had been designed with lightning in mind. In the case of the IU, induced currents reached the guidance system's circuits but the computer software kept the platform from tumbling. In addition, the incident on Apollo 12 dramatically vindicated the decision early in the 1960's to have separate guidance systems for the spacecraft and the launch vehicle. While working the problem, Gerry Griffin recalled that Chris Kraft attempted to take some of the pressure off him by saying "Don't forget that we don't HAVE to go to the moon today."[/i]
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