Apollo 14

Apollo 14
Mission insignia
Mission statistics[1]
Mission name	Apollo 14
Spacecraft name	CSM: Kitty Hawk LM: Antares
Command Module	CM-110 mass 29,240 kg
Service Module	SM-110
Lunar Module	LM-8 mass 15,264 kg
Crew size	3
Call sign	CSM: Kitty Hawk LM: Antares
Launch vehicle	Saturn V SA-509
Launch pad	LC 39A Kennedy Space Center Florida, USA
Launch date	January 31, 1971 21:03:02 UTC
Lunar landing	February 5, 1971 09:18:11 UTC Fra Mauro 3°38′43.08″S 17°28′16.90″W / 3.6453°S 17.471361°W (based on the IAU Mean Earth Polar Axis coordinate system)
Lunar EVA duration	First 04:47:50 Second   04:34:41 Total 09:22:31
Lunar surface time	1 d 09 h 30 m 29 s
Lunar sample mass	42.28 kg (93.21 lb)
CSM time in lunar orbit	2 d 18 h 35 m 39 s
Landing	February 9, 1971 21:05:00 UTC South Pacific Ocean 27°1′S 172°39′W / 27.017°S 172.65°W
Mission duration	9 d 00 h 01 m 58 s
Crew photo
Left to right: Roosa, Shepard, Mitchell
Related missions
Previous Subsequent Apollo 13 Apollo 15

Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the United States Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. It was the last of the "H missions", targeted landings with two-day stays on the Moon with two lunar EVAs, or moonwalks.

Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell launched on their nine-day mission on January 31, 1971 at 4:04:02 pm local time after a 40 minute, 2 second delay due to launch site weather restrictions, the first such delay in the Apollo program.^[2] Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5 in the Fra Mauro formation; this had originally been the target of the aborted Apollo 13 mission. During the two lunar EVAs, 42 kilograms (93 lb) of Moon rocks were collected and several surface experiments, including seismic studies, were performed. Shepard famously hit two golf balls on the lunar surface with a makeshift club he had brought from Earth. Shepard and Mitchell spent about 33 hours on the Moon, with about 9½ hours on EVA.

While Shepard and Mitchell were on the surface, Roosa remained in lunar orbit aboard the Command/Service Module, performing scientific experiments and photographing the Moon. He took several hundred seeds on the mission, many of which were germinated on return resulting in the so-called Moon trees. Shepard, Roosa, and Mitchell landed in the Pacific Ocean on February 9.

Crew

Shepard was the oldest U.S. astronaut when he made his trip aboard Apollo 14.^[3][4] He is the only astronaut from Project Mercury (the original Mercury Seven astronauts) to reach the Moon. Another of the original seven, L. Gordon Cooper, had (as Apollo 10's backup commander) tentatively been scheduled to command the mission, but according to author Andrew Chaikin, his casual attitude toward training, along with problems with NASA hierarchy (reaching all the way back to the Mercury-Atlas 9 flight), resulted in his removal.

The mission was a personal triumph for Shepard, who had battled back from Ménière’s disease which grounded him from 1964 to 1968. He and his crew were originally scheduled to fly on Apollo 13, but in 1969 NASA officials switched the scheduled crews for Apollo 13 and 14. This was done to allow Shepard more time to train for his flight, as he had been grounded for 4 years.^[5]

As of 2012, Mitchell is the only surviving member of the crew; Roosa died in 1994 from pancreatitis and Shepard in 1998 from leukemia.

Backup crew

Support crew

• Philip K. Chapman
• Bruce McCandless, II
• William R. Pogue
• C. Gordon Fullerton

Flight directors

• Pete Frank, Orange team
• Glynn Lunney, Black team
• Milton Windler, Maroon team
• Gerry Griffin, Gold team

Mission parameters

• Mass: CSM 29,240 kg; LM 15,264 kg
• Perigee: 183.2 km
• Apogee: 188.9 km
• Inclination: 31.12°
• Period: 88.18 min

• Perilune: 108.2 km
• Apolune: 314.1 km
• Inclination: °
• Period: 120 min
• Landing Site: 3.64530° S – 17.47136° W or
  3° 38' 43.08" S – 17° 28' 16.90" W

LM – CSM docking

• Undocked: February 5, 1971 – 04:50:43 UTC
• Docked: February 6, 1971 – 20:35:42 UTC

EVAs

EVA 1 start: February 5, 1971, 14:42:13 UTC

• Shepard – EVA 1
• Stepped onto moon: 14:54 UTC
• LM ingress: 19:22 UTC

• Mitchell – EVA 1
• Stepped onto moon: 14:58 UTC
• LM ingress: 19:18 UTC

• EVA 1 end: February 5, 19:30:50 UTC
  • Duration: 4 hours, 47 minutes, 50 seconds

EVA 2 start: February 6, 1971, 08:11:15 UTC

• Shepard – EVA 2
• Stepped onto moon: 08:16 UTC
• LM ingress: 12:38 UTC

• Mitchell – EVA 2
• Stepped onto moon: 08:23 UTC
• LM ingress: 12:28 UTC

• EVA 2 end: February 6, 12:45:56 UTC
  • Duration: 4 hours, 34 minutes, 41 seconds

Mission highlights

Launch and flight to lunar orbit

Apollo 14 launched during heavy cloud cover, and was quickly obscured by the clouds. However, NASA's long-range cameras, based 60 miles south in Vero Beach, had a clear shot of the remainder of the launch. Following the launch, Launch Control at Kennedy Space Center was visited by U.S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and Prince Juan Carlos of Spain.

At the beginning of the mission, the CSM Kitty Hawk had difficulty achieving capture and docking with the LM Antares. Repeated attempts to dock went on for 1 hour and 42 minutes, until it was suggested that pilot Roosa hold Kitty Hawk against Antares using its thrusters, then the docking probe would be retracted out of the way, hopefully triggering the docking latches. This attempt was successful, and no further docking problems were encountered during the mission.

Lunar descent

After separating from the command module in lunar orbit, the LM Antares also had two serious problems. First, the LM computer began getting an ABORT signal from a faulty switch. NASA believed that the computer might be getting erroneous readings like this if a tiny ball of solder had shaken loose and was floating between the switch and the contact, closing the circuit. The immediate solution—tapping on the panel next to the switch—did work briefly, but the circuit soon closed again. If the problem recurred after the descent engine fired, the computer would think the signal was real and would initiate an auto-abort, causing the Ascent Stage to separate from the Descent Stage and climb back into orbit. NASA and the software teams at MIT scrambled to find a solution, and determined the fix would involve reprogramming the flight software to ignore the false signal. The software modifications were transmitted to the crew via voice communication, and Mitchell manually entered the changes (amounting to over 80 keystrokes on the LM computer pad) just in time.

A second problem occurred during the powered descent, when the LM radar altimeter failed to lock automatically onto the moon's surface, depriving the navigation computer of vital information on the vehicle altitude and groundspeed. (This was not a result of the modifications to the ABORT command; rather, the post-mission report indicated it was an unrelated bug in the radar's operation.) After the astronauts cycled the landing radar breaker, the unit successfully acquired a signal near 18,000 feet (5,500 m), again just in the nick of time. Shepard then manually landed the LM closer to its intended target than any of the other six moon landing missions. Mitchell believes that Shepard would have continued with the landing attempt without the radar, using the LM inertial guidance system and visual cues. But a post-flight review of the descent data showed the inertial system alone would have been inadequate, and the astronauts probably would have been forced to abort the landing as they approached the surface.

Lunar surface operations

Shepard and Mitchell named their landing site Fra Mauro Base, and this designation is recognized by the International Astronomical Union (depicted in Latin on lunar maps as Statio Fra Mauro).

Shepard's first words, after stepping onto the lunar surface were, "And it's been a long way, but we're here." Unlike Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11 and Pete Conrad on Apollo 12, Shepard had already stepped off the LM footpad and was a few yards (meters) away before he spoke.

Shepard's moonwalking suit was the first to utilize red stripes on the arms and legs and on the top of the lunar EVA sunshade "hood", so as to allow easy identification between the commander and LM pilot on the surface;^[6] on the Apollo 12 pictures, it had been almost impossible to distinguish between the two crewmen, causing a great deal of confusion. This feature was included on Jim Lovell's Apollo 13 suit, however because no landing was made on that mission, Apollo 14 was the first to make use of it. This feature was used for the remaining Apollo missions, and for the EVAs of Space Shuttle flights afterwards, and it is still in use today on both the U.S. and Russian spacesuits on the International Space Station.

After landing in the Fra Mauro formation—the destination for Apollo 13—Shepard and Mitchell took two moon walks, adding new seismic studies to the by now familiar Apollo experiment package, and using the modular equipment transporter (MET), a pull cart for carrying equipment and samples, referred to as a "lunar rickshaw". Roosa, meanwhile, took pictures from on board command module Kitty Hawk in lunar orbit.

The second moonwalk, or EVA, was intended to reach the rim of the 1,000 foot (300 m) wide Cone Crater. However, the two astronauts were not able to find the rim amid the rolling terrain of the crater's slopes. Later analysis, using the pictures that they took, determined that they had come within an estimated 65 feet (20 m) of the crater's rim. Images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show the tracks of the astronauts and the MET come to within 30 m of the rim.^[7]

Shepard and Mitchell deployed and activated various scientific instruments and experiments and collected almost 100 pounds (45 kg) of lunar samples for return to earth. Other Apollo 14 achievements included: the only use of MET; longest distance traversed by foot on the lunar surface; first use of shortened lunar orbit rendezvous techniques; first use of color TV with new vidicon tube on lunar surface and the first extensive orbital science period conducted during CSM solo operations.

The astronauts also engaged in less serious activities on the Moon. Shepard smuggled on board a six iron golf club head which he could attach to the handle of a lunar excavation tool, and two golf balls, and took several one-handed swings (due to the limited flexibility of the EVA suit). He exuberantly exclaimed that the second ball went "miles and miles and miles" in the low lunar gravity, but later estimated the distance as 200 to 400 yards (180 to 370 m). Mitchell then used a lunar scoop handle as a javelin, creating the first 'Lunar Olympics'.

Return, splashdown and quarantine

On the way back to Earth, the crew conducted the first U.S. materials processing experiments in space.

The command module Kitty Hawk splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean on February 9, 1971 at 21:05 [UTC], approximately 760 nautical miles (1,410 km) south of American Samoa. After recovery by the ship USS New Orleans, the crew was flown to Pago Pago International Airport in Tafuna for a reception before being flown on a C-141 cargo plane to Honolulu. The Apollo 14 astronauts were the last lunar explorers to be quarantined on their return from the Moon.

Roosa, who worked in forestry in his youth, took several hundred tree seeds on the flight. These were germinated after the return to Earth, and widely distributed around the world as commemorative Moon Trees.

Mission insignia

The oval insignia shows a gold NASA Astronaut Pin, given to U.S. astronauts upon completing their first space flight, traveling from the Earth to the Moon. A gold band around the edge includes the mission and astronaut names. The designer was Jean Beaulieu.

The backup crew spoofed the patch with its own version, with revised artwork showing a Wile E. Coyote cartoon character depicted as gray-bearded (for Shepard, who was 47 at the time of the mission and the oldest man on the Moon), pot bellied (for Mitchell, who had a pudgy appearance) and red furred (for Roosa's red hair), still on the way to the moon, while Road Runner (for the backup crew) is already on the moon, holding a U.S. flag and a flag labeled "1st Team".^[8] The flight name is replaced by "BEEP BEEP" and the backup crew's names are given. Several of these patches were hidden by the backup crew and found during the flight by the crew in notebooks and storage lockers in both the CSM Kitty Hawk and the LM Antares spacecraft, and one patch was even stored on the MET lunar hand cart.^[9]

Spacecraft location

The Apollo 14 Command Module Kitty Hawk is on display at the Saturn V Center building at KSC after being on display at the Astronaut Hall of Fame near Titusville, Florida for several years.

The ascent stage of Lunar Module Antares impacted the Moon 7 February 1971 at 00:45:25.7 UT (6 February, 7:45 PM EST) 3°25′S 19°40′W / 3.42°S 19.67°W. Antares' descent stage and the mission's other equipment remain at Fra Mauro at 3°39′S 17°28′W / 3.65°S 17.47°W.

Photographs taken in 2009 by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter were released on July 17, and the Fra Mauro equipment was the most visible Apollo hardware at that time, owing to particularly good lighting conditions. In 2011, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter returned to the landing site at a lower altitude to take higher resolution photographs.^[10]

Gallery

• Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard sets foot on the Moon

• Shepard and Mitchell erect a US flag on the lunar surface.

• 

  Apollo 14 landing site, photograph by LRO.

• 

  Later photo of landing site taken by LRO.

See also

• Moon trees, taken from seeds brought to the Moon on Apollo 14.
• Extra-vehicular activity
• List of spacewalks
• Splashdown
• List of artificial objects on the Moon
• Google Moon

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Further reading

• NASA NSSDC Master Catalog
• APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS: A Statistical Reference by Richard W. Orloff Apollo 14 (NASA)
• The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology
• Apollo Program Summary Report
• Apollo 14 Lunar Launch Video
• Apollo 14 Characteristics – SP-4012 NASA HISTORICAL DATA BOOK
• Lattimer, Dick (1985). 'All We Did was Fly to the Moon. Whispering Eagle Press. ISBN 0-9611228-0-3.
• NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (1971), 'Apollo 14 Technical Air-To-Ground Voice Transcription'
• Back-up-Crew Patch

External links

• Apollo 14: Shepard, Roosa, Mitchell — slideshow by Life magazine
• NASA Apollo 14 press kit – Jan 21, 1971
• Map of surface activities for Apollo 14
• Apollo 14 entry in Encyclopedia Astronautica
• Apollo 14 Science Experiments
• Interview with the Apollo 14 Astronauts (March 31, 1971) from the Commonwealth Club of California Records at the Hoover Institution Archives.
• Detailed technical article describing the ABORT signal problem and its solution