Mission controllers had planned to send Apollo 12's S-IVB into solar orbit after separating from the Apollo spacecraft, but it is believed the burn lasted too long, and hence did not send it close enough to the Moon, remaining in a barely stable orbit around the Earth and Moon.
Kontroleri misije planirali su S-IVB Apollo 12 poslati u solarnu orbitu nakon odvajanja od Apollo svemirske letjelice, ali se vjeruje da je izgaranje trajalo dugo i stoga nije poslalo letjelicu dovoljno blizu Mjeseca, ostajući u jedva stabilnoj orbiti oko Zemlje i Mjeseca.