Search

Relive the dramatic Apollo 14 launch and moon landing, 50 years later - Mashable

sumurbelakang.blogspot.com

On Jan. 31, 1971, NASA  sent the Apollo 14 mission skyward.

The eighth crewed mission in the Apollo program (and third one to reach the surface of the Moon) lifted off on a Sunday afternoon with NASA astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell on board. They reached the surface of Earth's only natural satellite five days later.

Relive the dramatic Apollo 14 launch and moon landing, 50 years later

Image: STF / Staff via getty images

The mission led by Commander Shepard and his crew was something of a second take. One year earlier, the infamous Apollo 13 mission came to a premature end due to equipment failures. The astronauts on board made it back home, but they weren't able to stage a lunar landing as intended.

Apollo 14 was the make-up attempt, with the mission's lunar landing set to touch down in the same location that the previous mission aimed to reach. Once again the mission was almost scuttled when Shepard and his crew dealt with equipment failures. But everything worked out in the end.

The Jan. 31 launch kicked off just after 4:00 p.m. ET, following a 40-minute weather delay. The whole mission was originally meant to proceed in 1970, though it was delayed following the events of the Apollo 13 mission and subsequent investigation. (The earlier mission is notably the subject of Steven Spielberg's 1995 blockbuster, Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks.)

Relive the dramatic Apollo 14 launch and moon landing, 50 years later

Image: Central Press / Stringer via Getty Images

Cms%252f2021%252f1%252f758aff59 907a 5fd0%252fthumb%252f00001.jpg%252f930x520.jpg?signature=z0xvfr8akudn88lhxamiuqdp3zg=&source=https%3a%2f%2fvdist.aws.mashable

Days later, on Feb. 5 and after spending a day in orbit around the Moon, the mission's lunar lander touched down at a landing site in the Fra Mauro Formation. The location was chosen because of its proximity to a crater that was to be investigated as part of the mission.

Cms%252f2021%252f1%252fb683c6de 492e 616a%252fthumb%252f00001.jpg%252f930x520.jpg?signature=qrbjtjvi2u9fdznx fluqp2axx4=&source=https%3a%2f%2fvdist.aws.mashable

Shepard's first words as he set foot on the Moon were: "And it's been a long way, but we're here." The crew spent roughly a day there, gathering lunar samples and collecting still and video imagery to be reviewed once they got back home.

Relive the dramatic Apollo 14 launch and moon landing, 50 years later

Image: Heritage Images / Contributor via getty images

Cms%252f2021%252f1%252f7af0b780 122f 7ad0%252fthumb%252f00001.jpg%252f930x520.jpg?signature= 3id0bv5hdhufnz3usfynstwoze=&source=https%3a%2f%2fvdist.aws.mashable

Relive the dramatic Apollo 14 launch and moon landing, 50 years later

Image: Hulton Archive / Stringer via getty images

In what was perhaps the most memorable moment of the mission, Shepard pulled out two golf balls and the head of a golf club, the latter of which he affixed to one of the crew's sampling tools. He used his makeshift golf club to take some swings at the balls, knocking one out for "miles and miles and miles," as he described it. 

Shepard ultimately discard the sampling tool portion of his makeshift club, throwing it as if it were a javelin. He brought the golf club head back home, though, and it resides here on Earth to this day in New Jersey's U.S. Golf Association Museum. The footage of Shepard swinging his "club," seen below, is a genuine piece of history.

Cms%252f2021%252f1%252f4b8bcc8b 6d29 9ac0%252fthumb%252f00001.jpg%252f930x520.jpg?signature=76d n8v6xesygbrstqh9kc4wk1o=&source=https%3a%2f%2fvdist.aws.mashable

Apollo 14 left the lunar surface in the early afternoon of Feb. 6, arriving back home three days later on Feb. 9. The mission's command module, dubbed Kitty Hawk (where the Wright Brothers first took flight), splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean, where the astronauts were recovered.

Relive the dramatic Apollo 14 launch and moon landing, 50 years later

Image: Bettmann / Contributor via getty images

Let's block ads! (Why?)



"later" - Google News
February 01, 2021 at 12:05AM
https://ift.tt/3aopKQK

Relive the dramatic Apollo 14 launch and moon landing, 50 years later - Mashable
"later" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KR2wq4


Bagikan Berita Ini

0 Response to "Relive the dramatic Apollo 14 launch and moon landing, 50 years later - Mashable"

Post a Comment

Powered by Blogger.