Conrad and Bean descended in Intrepid toward the surface of the Ocean of Storms. When Conrad took manual control, he saw exactly what he had hoped for — the crater with Surveyor 3 right in front of him.
Intrepid touched down on 19 November just about 160 metres from Surveyor 3. It was the most precise landing of the entire Apollo program and proof that future missions could aim for specific, geologically interesting sites rather than merely safe, flat plains.
Stepping onto the surface, the 168-cm Conrad delivered the line that won him a bet with a journalist — he wanted to prove NASA did not script the astronauts’ words: “Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that’s a long one for me.”
From the flight transcript
“Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that’s a long one for me.”
NASA Apollo 12 Mission Report · Apollo Lunar Surface Journal · NASA Image and Video Library — full list on Apollo 12