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Apollo 14
Launched: 31 January 1971 UT
21:03:02 (4:03:02 p.m. EST)
Landed on Moon: 5 February 1971 UT 09:18:11 (04:18:11 a.m. EST)
Landing Site: Fra Mauro (3.65 S, 17.47 W)
Returned to Earth: 9 February 1971 UT 21:05:00 (04:05:00 p.m. EST)
Alan B. Shepard, Jr., commander
Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot
Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot
Apollo 14 was the third mission
in which humans walked on the lunar surface and returned to Earth. On 5 February
1971 two astronauts (Apollo 14 Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. and LM pilot Edgar
D. Mitchell) landed near Fra Mauro crater on the Moon in the Lunar Module (LM)
while the Command and Service Module (CSM) (with CM pilot Stuart A. Roosa)
continued in lunar orbit. During their stay on the Moon, the astronauts set up
scientific experiments, took photographs, and collected lunar samples. The LM
took off from the Moon on 6 February and the astronauts returned to Earth on 9
February.
Mission Profile
After a delay of 40 minutes, 2
seconds due to clouds and rain, Apollo 14 was launched into Earth parking orbit
on 31 January 1971 at 21:03:02 UT (4:03:02 p.m. EST) from pad 39A of Kennedy
Space Center on Saturn V SA-509. Earth orbit insertion occurred at 21:14:51 UT
followed by translunar injection at 23:37:34. An early first mid-course
correction was made to make up for the launch delay so the spacecraft would
arrive at the Moon on schedule. The CSM separated from the S-IVB stage
containing the LM at 00:05:31 UT on 1 February. Five attempts were made to dock
the CSM and the LM, all unsuccessful because the catches on the docking ring did
not release. The sixth attempt, at 02:00:02 UT, was successful and no further
problems with the docking mechanism occurred. The S-IVB stage was released into
a lunar impact trajectory. (It impacted the lunar surface on 4 February at
07:40:55.4 UT at 8.09 S, 26.02 W with a velocity of 2.54 km/s at a 69 degree
angle from the horizontal.) A second mid-course correction was made on 2
February and a third on 4 February. Lunar orbit insertion occurred at 06:59:43
UT on 4 February.
The LM, with Shepard and Mitchell
aboard, separated from the CSM, piloted by Roosa, at 04:50:44 UT on 5 February
and landed at 09:18:11 UT in the hilly upland region 24 km north of the rim of
Fra Mauro crater at 3.6 S, 17.5 W. The astronauts made two moonwalk EVA's
totaling 9 hours, 23 minutes, one on 5 February and one on 6 February, during
which the Apollo lunar surface experiments package (ALSEP) was placed on the
surface of the moon, 42.9 kg of lunar samples were acquired, and photographs
were taken. At the end of the second EVA Shepard hit two golf balls. Experiments
were also performed from the CSM in equatorial orbit.
The LM lifted off from the Moon
at 18:48:42 UT on 6 February after 33 hours, 31 minutes on the lunar surface.
After the LM docked with the CSM at 20:35:53 UT the lunar samples and other
equipment were transferred from the LM and the LM was jettisoned at 22:48:00 UT.
It impacted the Moon on 8 February 00:45:25.7 UT at 3.42 S, 19.67 W. Transearth
injection began at 01:39:04 UT on 7 February. One small mid-course correction
was made on 8 February during transearth coast. The CM separated from the SM at
20:35:44 UT on 9 February. Apollo 14 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 9
February 1971 at 21:05:00 UT (4:05:00 p.m. EST) after a mission elapsed time of
216 hrs, 1 min, 58 secs. The splashdown point was 27 deg 1 min S, 172 deg 39 min
W, 765 nautical miles south of American Samoa. The astronauts and capsule were
picked up by the recovery ship USS New Orleans. This was the last Apollo mission
in which the astronauts were put in quaratine after their return.
Performance of the spacecraft,
the third of the Apollo H-series missions, was good for most aspects of the
mission. The primary mission goals of deployment of the ALSEP and other
scientific experiments, collection of lunar samples, surface photography, and
photography, radio science and other scientific experiments from orbit were
achieved with the exception of the full coverage planned for the Hycon camera.
Shepard, 47, was a Navy captain on his second spaceflight (he'd flown previously
as the first American in space on Mercury Redstone 3), Roosa, 37, was an Air
Force major on his first spaceflight, and Mitchell, 40, was a Navy commander
also on his first spaceflight. The backup crew for this mission was Eugene
Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Joe Engle. The Apollo 14 command module "Kitty
Hawk" is currently on display at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville,
Florida.
Credit: NASA
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