Alan Shepard - Out of this World Golfer
PastureGolf.com celebrates the 35th Anniversary                of the launch of Apollo 14 with this retrospective: A series of                historical photographs from the 1971 Apollo 14 lunar mission commanded                by Astronaut Alan B. Shepard
First golfer on the moon is he,
Yet mad enough to pop.
Because of the lack of gravity,
The poor lads putt won't drop.
- Richard Armour, Golf Is a Four-Letter Word (1962)
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Thirty-four          years have passed since our most famous amateur golfer astronaut, Alan          B. Shepard, Jr., described the exagerrated distance of his moon shot as miles and miles and miles. Those famous words followed a one-handed          golf swing with a rigged up six iron on the moon. (See          quotes) The first swing was reported to be a duff, but the next connected.
Although Shepard fired off those two          golf balls in moon gravity which is about one-sixth of earth's ( moon          fact sheet ), they did not go miles and miles and miles. Shepard later          appended his estimate to drive distances in the 200 to 400 yard range.          Still, not bad with one hand and encumbered by a suit that prevented a          good pivot on the swing. See the golf ball hit by          Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, and the javelin tossed by Edgar D. Mitchell.
View of full moon from Apollo 11          (Source: NASA)
Alan          Shepard , the first American in space, commanded Apollo 14 at age 47          in 1971. As the oldest astronaut to walk on the moon, his back-up crew          characterized him as a grey bearded Wiley Coyote. During the Apollo          14 Moon Mission from January 31, 1971 (blast off 4:03:02 P.M. EST) to          February 9, 1971, Shepard spent 33 hours on the surface of the moon which          included time for a couple of golf shots that were out of this world!
Here is a series of photographs with          text from NASA Archives that will transport all of you who are of a certain          older generation back to the hey-day of America's moon missions. For those          youngsters who stumble across this collection of photographs from Apollo          14, maybe you will get a sense of the excitement of discovery that whirled          around space exploration in the decades of the '60's and early '70's.          (Source of Photographs: NASA Archives)
NASA Photo ID: S71-17620 Film Type: 4x5 Date Taken:              01/31/71 Fish-eye view of the launch of the 363-foot tall Apollo 14              (spacecraft 110/Lunar Module 8/Saturn 509) space vehicle from Pad              A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 4:03:02 p.m.,              January 31, 1971. This view of the liftoff was taken by a camera mounted              on the mobile launch tower; View of the Apollo 14 launch taken from              the bottom of the launch tower.
NASA Photo ID: S70-18740 Film Type: 4x5 BW Date Taken:              09/01/70 This lunar map shows the landing areas for the Apollo manned              lunar landing missions that have been accomplised and the locations              of six candidate sites for the remainder of the Apollo flights. Those              indicated are Sea of Tranquility (Apollo 11), Ocean of Storms (Apollo              12), Fra Mauro (Apollo 14), Hadley/Apennines (Apollo 15), and Marius              Hills, Descartes, Davy and Copernicus.
NASA Photo ID: S70-49764 Film Type: 120mm BW Date Taken:              12/01/70 A photographic illustration showing a near vertical view              of the Apollo 14 landing site located in the Fra Mauro highlands on              the lunar nearside. The predicted landing point is 17 degrees 29 minutes              46 seconds west longitude and 3 degrees 40 minutes 19 seconds south              latitude. Cone Crater is at lower right. North is toward the right              side of the picture (Cone Crater being located near the northeast              corner of photo). The landing point is between Triplet Crater and              Doublet Crater in the center of the picture.
NASA Photo ID: S70-50764 Film Type: 4x5 BW Date Taken:              09/01/70 This lunar map shows the traverse plans for the Apollo 14              lunar landing mission. Areas marked include Lunar module landing site,              areas for the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP) and              areas for gathering of core samples.
NASA Photo ID: AS14-66-9230 Film Type:              70mm Date Taken: 02/05/71 Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., Apollo 14              commander, shades his eyes from the sun during the Apollo 14 extravehicular              activity (EVA) on the Moon. This photograph was taken by Astronaut              Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot, through the window of the Lunar              Module.
NASA Photo ID: AS14-66-9340 Film Type: 70mm Date Taken:              02/06/71 A view from inside the Lunar Module following the second              Apollo 14 extravehicular activity (EVA-2). At the left foreground              is the Modularized Equipment Transporter (MET). Tracks made by the              two-wheeled Rickshaw-type cart can be seen in the left background.              The Apollo 35mm stereo close-up camera lies next to the MET, near              a shadow of the erectable S-band Antenna. The area is covered with              footprints made by Astronauts Alan B. Shepard JR., comander; and Edgar              D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot.
NASA Photo ID: AS14-66-9337 Film Type: 70mm Date Taken:              02/06/71 View shows the javelin and golf ball used by Astronaut Alan              B. Shepard Jr., Apollo 14 commander, during the mission's second extravehicular              activity (EVA-2) on Feb. 6, 1971. Just to the left of center lies              the javelin, with the golf ball just below it, almost perpendicular              to it. Dark colored trails are the results of tracks made by the lunar              overshoes of the astronauts and the wheels of the Modularized Equipment              Transporter (MET). This photograph was made through the right window              of the Lunar Module, looking northwest. ( Dialogue              regarding javelin throw with the SWC staff by Edgar D. Mitchell in              Lunar Surface Journal transcript ).
NASA Photo ID: S71-16637 Film Type: 4x5 Date Taken:              01/27/71 A close-up view of the plaque which the Apollo 14 crew will              leave behind on the Moon during their lunar landing mission. The seven              by nine-inch stainless steel plaque will be attached to the ladder              on the landing gear strut on the Lunar Module's descent stage.
Excerpted          from Apollo 14 Lunar Surface Journal - Nice Day for a Game of Golf
135:08:17 Shepard: (Facing the TV) Houston, while you're looking that          up, you might recognize what I have in my hand as the handle for the contingency          sample return; it just so happens to have a genuine six iron on the bottom          of it. In my left hand, I have a little white pellet that's familiar to          millions of Americans. I'll drop it down. Unfortunately, the suit is so          stiff, I can't do this with two hands, but I'm going to try a little sand-trap          shot here. (Pause)
[Jones - "He topped and buried it on the first swing. I assume that          the six-iron was snuck on board."]
[Mitchell - "In his suit pocket."]
135:08:53 Mitchell: You got more dirt than ball that time.
135:08:58 Shepard: Got more dirt than ball. Here we go again.
[Al's second swing pushes the ball about 2 or 3 feet, mostly along the          line toward the TV camera, rather than along the line of the swing.]
135:09:01 Haise: That looked like a slice to me, Al.
135:09:03 Shepard: Here we go. Straight as a die; one more. (Long Pause)
[Al's third swing finally connects and sends the ball off-camera to          the right, apparently on a fairly low trajectory. He drops a second ball,          which rolls left and toward the TV camera. Al gets himself in position          and connects again. The trajectory of this shot appears to be similar          to the previous one.]
135:09:20 Shepard: Miles and miles and miles.
135:09:26 Haise: Very good, Al.
135:09:27 Haise: And (to) answer Ed's question earlier there; Kilo-Kilo          was used for the window shots, Ed; so, you ought to bring it back.
135:09:43 Shepard: Yeah, that's right. We got some of that to start          with, didn't we?
135:09:46 Mitchell: Yeah.
135:09:49 Shepard: (Garbled). (Long Pause)
[Al removes the club head. He brought it home and it is currently on          display at the US Golf Association Hall of Fame in New Jersey.]
135:10:14 Mitchell: How many films (means "frames") did we take with          this (close-up camera)? Eleven, Huh? 135:10:17 Shepard: Ah. Approximately.          135:10:20 Mitchell: 17. Okay. (Pause)
[Al is putting the club head in his thigh pocket. Ed has removed the          close-up camera from the MET and has placed it on the ground.]
135:10:30 Haise: Okay, Ed; Houston.
Apollo 14 Photo Index