The mishap still stands out in NASA's history. In November 1969, during his walk on the Moon, astronaut Alan Bean took an almost brand-new color television camera. Still, as he set it up, he pointed it at the Sun and overheated the camera's vidicon tube, ending all live TV transmissions from the Moon. For younger space fans who have only seen Apollo footage in compilations, this explains why Apollo 12 has so little surviving live television footage from the lunar surface; the mission still produced thousands of still photographs on 70mm film.
Why this camera mattered so much to NASA
