27 Facts About Apollo 14

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.

Apollo 14 took several hundred seeds on the mission, many of which were germinated on return, resulting in the so-called Moon trees, that were widely distributed in the following years.

Apollo 14 had experimental surgery in 1968 which was successful and allowed his return to flight status.

Apollo 14 became a fighter pilot and then in 1965 successfully completed Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California prior to his selection as a Group 5 astronaut the following year.

The Lunar Module Pilot, Edgar Mitchell, aged 40 at the time of Apollo 14, joined the Navy in 1952 and served as a fighter pilot, beginning in 1954.

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Apollo 14 was assigned to squadrons aboard aircraft carriers before returning to the United States to further his education while in the Navy, completing the ARPS prior to his selection as a Group 5 astronaut.

Apollo 14 served on the support crew for Apollo 9 and was the LMP of the backup crew for Apollo 10.

Usually low in seniority, support crew members assembled the mission's rules, flight plan, and checklists, and kept them updated; for Apollo 14, they were Philip K Chapman, Bruce McCandless II, William R Pogue and C Gordon Fullerton.

Apollo 14 was scheduled for July 1970, but in January of that year, due to budget cuts that saw the cancellation of Apollo 20, NASA decided there would be two Apollo missions per year with 1970 to see Apollo 13 in April and Apollo 14 likely in October or November.

Crew of Apollo 14 trained together for 19 months after assignment to the mission, longer than any other Apollo crew to that point.

Apollo 14 had been impressed by the training given to Apollo 13 prime crew CMP Mattingly by geologist Farouk El-Baz and got El-Baz to agree to undertake his training.

Apollo 14 spacecraft consisted of Command Module 110 and Service Module 110, called Kitty Hawk, and Lunar Module 8, called Antares.

Saturn V used for Apollo 14 was designated SA-509, and was similar to those used on Apollo 8 through 13.

Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package array of scientific instruments carried by Apollo 14 consisted of the Passive Seismic Experiment, Active Seismic Experiment, Suprathermal Ion Detector, Cold Cathode Ion Gauge, and Charged Particle Lunar Environmental Experiment .

The OPSs used on Apollo 14 were modified from those used on previous missions in that the internal heaters were removed as unnecessary.

Modular Equipment Transporter was a two-wheeled handcart, used only on Apollo 14, intended to allow the astronauts to take tools and equipment with them, and store lunar samples, without needing to carry them.

Apollo 14 12 had launched during poor weather and twice been struck by lightning, as a result of which the rules had been tightened.

Apollo 14 made several attempts over the next two hours, as mission controllers huddled and sent advice.

Apollo 14 was the first mission on which the CSM propelled the LM to the lower orbit—though Apollo 13 would have done so had the abort not already occurred.

Apollo 14 then fired the thumper explosives, vibrations from which would give scientists back on Earth information about the depth and composition of the lunar regolith.

Apollo 14'spard brought along a Wilson six iron golf club head, which he had modified to attach to the handle of the contingency sample tool, and two golf balls.

Apollo 14'spard took several one-handed swings and exuberantly exclaimed that the second ball went "miles and miles and miles" in the low lunar gravity.

Apollo 14'spard brought back the club, gave it to the USGA Museum in New Jersey, and had a replica made which he gave to the National Air and Space Museum.

The Apollo 14 basalts are generally richer in aluminum and sometimes richer in potassium than other lunar basalts.

Apollo 14 took astronomical photographs, of the Gegenschein, and of the Lagrangian point of the Sun-Earth system that lies beyond the Earth, testing the theory that the Gegenschein is generated by reflections off particles at L2.

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Apollo 14 stated after the mission that two of the four had gotten 51 out of 200 correct, whereas random chance would have dictated 40.

The Apollo 14 astronauts were the last lunar explorers to be quarantined on their return from the Moon.