Apollo 14

Apollo 14 was preceded by Apollo 13 and followed by Apollo 15.

Eighth manned mission in the Apollo program. Third mission to land on the moon.

Launched: January 31, 1971

Returned: February 9, 1971

Crew members: Alan Shepard, commander; Stuart Roosa[?], command module pilot; Edgar Mitchell[?], lunar module pilot.

Command module: Kitty Hawk

Lunar module: Antares

Landed: February 5, 1971

Lunar landing site: 3.7 S, 17.5 W -- Fra Mauro highlands

On surface: 1 day 9.5 hours

Lunar EVA: 9.2 hours (4.7 + 4.5)

Samples: 43 kg

Mission notes:

• Shepard smuggled a makeshift six-iron golf club and two golf balls to the moon, and took several swings. He claimed the second ball went "miles and miles and miles" in the lunar gravity, but later estimated it actually went 200-400 yards (meters).
• Mitchell conducted some unauthorized extra-sensory perception experiments while en route to the Moon, with friends back on Earth; the number of correct guesses were reportedly less than would have been obtained by random chance.
• Shepard and Mitchell used a wheeled cart to transport samples. They hiked to the rim of a large nearby crater, but were unable to distinguish landmarks easily and turned back without seeing the crater itself.