Today is the 50th anniversary of Apollo 14's landing on the surface of the Moon

The Apollo 14 mission had run into a pair of problems throughout its voyage to the lunar surface. The first problem had occurred on day one of the mission when Command Module pilot Stu Roosa struggled to dock with the lunar module after separating from the S-IVB booster. For whatever reason, the docking mechanism would not activate and Apollo 14 struggled for two hours until someone got the bright idea to approach the lunar module with the docking probe retracted. This worked and the mission was allowed to proceed.

On the morning of February 5, 1971, Mission Commander Alan Shepard and Lunar Module pilot Edgar Mitchell undocked from the Apollo 14 CSM to begin their descent to the surface of the Moon. Immediately problems began for the descent as the LM computer began getting an ABORT signal from a faulty switch. If the problem wasn't fixed before the main descent burn, the mission could be aborted by the LM computer - causing the ascent stage to separate from the descent stage of the lunar module. Thankfully a solution was worked out by MIT just minutes before the burn was scheduled to begin.

A second problem hit the mission during the powered descent stage when the landing radar failed to lock onto the lunar surface. If the radar had not locked on by the time the flight had reached an altitude of 10,000 feet, mission rules required an abort. Fortunately for the mission, the radar was finally able to lock onto the lunar surface and Shepard and Mitchell were able to make a safe landing at Fra Mauro.

Landing Footage

Once on the ground, Shepard and Mitchell got out of lunar module for an EVA, making Shepard the first and only member of the original astronaut corps (the Mercury 7) to walk on the Moon. Shepard also holds the distinction of being the sole person to hit a golf ball on the lunar surface.

Alan Shepard golf swing