Apollo Missions

Apollo 14's Moon Trees

While Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell walked on the Moon, Stuart Roosa, a former U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper, orbited above them in the command module. Inside a small container in Roosa's personal kit were hundreds of tree seeds that were part of a joint NASA/USFS project. After returning to Earth the seeds were germinated by the Forest Service. They became known as the "Moon Trees." As the seedlings became viable, they were planted throughout the United States and the world. They stand as a tribute to astronaut Roosa and the Apollo program.

 

 

 

NASA PHOTO: Apollo 14 launch on January 31, 1971 at 4:03 P.M. from the Kennedy Space Center

Apollo 14

Apollo 14 was the 8th manned mission. It landed on the hilly Fra Mauro formation which was where Apollo 13 was going to land. Apollo 14 provided the first color television images to be broadcast from the moon. Alan Shephard, who many years earlier, was the first American to be blasted atop a ballistic missile, became the first man to hit a golf ball on the moon.

The Fra Mauro formation became more interesting to scientists when the Apollo 12 seismometer at Surveyor crater about 100 miles west of the Apollo 14 site, relayed the occurrence of monthly moonquakes believed to be originating in the Fra Mauro crater. The Fra Mauro crater and surrounding formation takes their names from a 15th century Italian monk and map maker who in 1457, mapped the Mediterranean world with surprising accuracy.

NASA PHOTO: Second stage of the Saturn V rocket arrives at the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, January 23, 1970

With the near disastrous results from Apollo 13, Apollo 14 received some major changes to the Command / Service Modules that including adding a 3rd cryogenic oxygen tank installed in an unused bay of the service module. Plus an auxiliary battery in the Service Module as a backup in case of a future fuel cell failure. The fans used to stir the oxygen tanks were removed as were all of the thermostat switches from the oxygen tank heaters. An emergency 5 gallon supply of drinking water was also added to the command module.

NASA PHOTO: Al Shepard took this photo while facing slightly west of north. Ed Mitchell is doing a TV pan and has the TV pointed toward the southwest. This marked the first time for color television pictures. The camera is connected with a 100' cable to the Lunar Module.

Apollo 14 Command Module on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

NASA PHOTO: (left to right) of Stu Roosa, Alan Shepard, and Ed Mitchell.

APOLLO 14 SUMMARY

Crew
Alan B. Shepard Jr. , Commander
Edgar D. Mitchell, Lunar Module Pilot
Stuart A. Roosa, Command Module Pilot

Payload
Kitty Hawk (CM-110)
Antares (LM-8)

Launch
Jan. 31, 1971; 4:03 p.m. EDT
Launch Pad 39A
Saturn-V AS-509

Landing
Feb. 9, 1971
Pacific Ocean
Recovery Ship: USS New Orleans