Apollo 14

Apollo 14 was the eighth crewed mission in the Apollo program. It was the third mission to land on the Moon. The nine-day mission left the Earth on January 31, 1971, and landed on the Moon on February 5. The Lunar Module landed in the Fra Mauro formation; this had been the target of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission. During the two walks on the Moon's surface, 93.2 lb (42 kg) of moon rock was collected. Several experiments, including seismic studies, were carried out. Commander Alan Shepard famously hit two golf balls on the lunar surface with a makeshift club he had brought from Earth. Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa took several hundred seeds on the mission, many of which were planted on return, resulting in the so-called Moon trees. The pilot of the Lunar Module was Dr. Edgar Mitchell.

Apollo 14

Shepard and the American flag on the Moon during Apollo 14 in February 1971
Mission type	Crewed lunar landing
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	CSM: 1971-008A LM: 1971-008C
SATCAT no.	CSM: 4900 LM: 4905
Mission duration	9 days, 1 minute, 58 seconds
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Apollo CSM-110 Apollo LM-8
Manufacturer	CSM: North American Rockwell LM: Grumman
Launch mass	102,084 pounds (46,305 kg)
Landing mass	11,481 pounds (5,208 kg)
Crew
Crew size	3
Members	Alan B. Shepard Jr. Stuart A. Roosa Edgar D. Mitchell
Callsign	CSM: Kitty Hawk LM: Antares
Start of mission
Launch date	January 31, 1971 (1971-01-31)
Rocket	Saturn V
Launch site	Kennedy LC-39A
End of mission
Recovered by	USS New Orleans
Landing date	February 9, 1971 (1971-02-10)
Landing site	South Pacific Ocean 27°1′S 172°39′W
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Selenocentric
Pericynthion	16.9 kilometers (9.1 nmi)
Apocynthion	108.9 kilometers (58.8 nmi)
Period	120 minutes
Lunar orbiter
Spacecraft component	Command and service module
Orbital insertion	February 4, 1971
Orbital departure	February 7, 1971
Orbits	34
Lunar lander
Spacecraft component	Lunar module
Landing date	February 5, 1971
Return launch	February 6, 1971
Landing site	Fra Mauro 3.64530°S 17.47136°W / -3.64530; -17.47136
Sample mass	42.80 kilograms (94.35 lb)
Surface EVAs	2
EVA duration	Total: 9 hours, 22 minutes, 31 seconds First: 4 hours, 47 minutes, 50 seconds Second   4 hours, 34 minutes, 41 seconds
Docking with LM
Docking date	February 1, 1971
Undocking date	February 5, 1971
Docking with LM ascent stage
Docking date	February 6, 1971
Undocking date	February 6, 1971
Left to right: Mitchell, Shepard, Roosa Apollo program

LRO finds the site

In June 2009, the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was able to photograph the Apollo 14 landing site. The base of the lunar module and the astronauts footprints on the Moon's surface could be clearly seen.