February 5: On This Day in World History … briefly
Moon rocks, or lunar samples, from Apollo 14 are unique in that most of the 94 pounds of rocks are breccia - rocks composed of fragments of other, older rocks.
1971: Apollo 14 lands on the moon
Apollo 14 was the eighth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, the third to land on the Moon, and the first to land in the lunar highlands. 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 Sunday, January 31, 1971, at 4:03:02 p.m. EST. Liftoff was delayed forty minutes and two seconds, due to launch site weather restrictions, the first such delay in the Apollo program.
Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5 in the Fra Mauro highlands – originally the target of the aborted Apollo 13 mission. During the two lunar EVAs, 94.35 pounds (42.80 kg) of Moon rocks were collected, and several scientific experiments were performed. Shepard hit two golf balls on the lunar surface with a makeshift club he had brought with him.
Shepard and Mitchell spent 331⁄2 hours on the Moon, with almost 91⁄2 hours of EVA. In the aftermath of Apollo 13, several modifications had been made to the service module electrical power system to prevent a repeat of that accident, including a redesign of the oxygen tanks and the addition of a third tank. The launch had been scheduled for October 1, 1970, and was delayed about four months.
While Shepard and Mitchell were on the surface, Roosa remained in lunar orbit aboard the command and service module ‘Kittyhawk’, performing scientific experiments and photographing the Moon, including the landing site of the future Apollo 16 mission. He took several hundred seeds on the mission, many of which were germinated on return, resulting in the so-called Moon trees.
Shepard and Mitchell successfully lifted Antares off the Moon to dock with the command module and, after a total of 34 lunar orbits, the ship was flown back to Earth where the three astronauts landed in the Pacific Ocean on February 9.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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