50th anniversary of Apollo 14

50th anniversary of Apollo 14





Today the 31st of January marks fifty years since the launch of Apollo 14. The first mission after the ill fated Apollo 13 mission and the last before the lunar rover was flown on the last three Apollo missions 15,16,and 17. The crew of Apollo 14 included commander Alan Shepard(the first American in space), Edgar Mitchell as LM pilot and Stuart Rossa as CM pilot.

The New York Times in the days leading up to the launch described the launch as a previously routine countdown that after Apollo 13 became nothing like routine.

“Another countdown begins tomorrow [for Apollo 14] ... It might have been just another Moon-landing mission, fairly routine by space-age standards, had it not been for Apollo 13."

New York Times, January 24th, 1971.

The Apollo 14 mission landing site was the Fra Mauro highlands which was the intended landing site of the aborted Apollo 13 mission. Alan Shepard would be the first commander to wear the red stripe on his helmet to better distinguish the two astronauts on the lunar surface. The calls signs of the CSM and the LM were kitty hawk and anteres respectively.

This mission was like Apollo 7 after the Apollo 1 fire and the space shuttle discovery after both challenger and Columbia. Whether the programme continued was very much dependent on Apollo 14 being a success. There was an extra tank added after the Apollo 13 explosion and it was separate. There was also an issue with the docking of the LM and CSM which is a mission critical part of any of the missions. There was an issue during the descent to the moon where the LM computer which had it not been fixed would have led to an abort of the landing(the audio of this is fascinating btw ) and the radar on the LM initially not locking into the moon’s surface which thankfully it did before the 10,000 feet abort limit. Thankfully Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell made a perfect landing and they became the fifth and sixth people respectively in history to walk on the moon on February 5th, 1971.

This mission is known for Alan Shepard hitting golf balls on the lunar surface with the head of a six iron and the handle from a sample collector.

The CM kitty hawk splashed down in the Pacific Ocean just a minute past nine days since launch in Florida on February 9th.