On 31 January 1971, the Apollo 14 embarked on a nine-day quest to travel to the moon and back. Apollo 14 was considered the 8th human-crewed mission within the prestigious Apollo program and was regarded as the third mission for humans to land on the moon. The quest was also the final of the H-missions within the Apollo program. To give you more insight into the H-missions, it was a precision landing sequence where humans would spend two days on the lunar surface where they would perform two moonwalks.

The Mission of Apollo 14

While the astronauts spend time on the moon for two days, Mitchell and Shepard were to fulfil a wide variety of mission objectives that the Apollo 13 quest was unable to complete at the famous Fra Mauro formation. The primary goals were to collect and survey samples at the Imbrium Basin, activate and deploy the ALSEP (Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package), and take several photos for any future explorations sites that might occur.

However, because the last mission was unable to make a successful landing on the moon, improvements were made ensuring that a more significant amount of scientific data and lunar material could be collected from the moon. This was made possible thanks to the addition of a MET (modular equipment transporter). The carrier was a collapsible cart with two wheels that could easily transport tools and samples across the surface of the moon.

This quest was fundamental because an accident occurred with Apollo 13 that forced the crew to return to earth without landing on the moon in April 1970. The Apollo 13 was supposed to be the 3rd mission of humans on the moon. Thankfully, Apollo 14 didn’t experience any problems during its journey. While Mitchell and Shepard landed on the moon on 5 February, Roosa stayed in orbit within the command module to perform various scientific experiments and take photos to provide more documentation on the moon.

The Very First Lunar Olympics

While Mitchell and Shepard were spending time on the moon’s surface, they had to perform two extravehicular activities that lasted over 9 hours in total. It was during the 9 hours that Shepard decided to play some golf on the moon. He managed to achieve this as he previously decided to take a six iron with him to the moon. It was only a six-iron head, so he had to attach it to a handle from one of the lunar tools.

Utilizing two golf balls, Shepard took a total of 3 one-handed swings of the club, missing the golf ball on his initial try. He then managed to make contact on the following two swings and stated that the balls travelled for miles once he connected his shots. Michell, on the other hand, decided to use a scoop handle and throw it like it was the sport of javelin.