Apollo and the Moon

Apollo 14

Apollo 14 was the third manned landing on the Moon, following Apollo 13's problems. The mission took place in February 1971.

There were problems docking the Lunar and Command Modules in Earth orbit - the 6th try was succesful.

Apollo 14's mission was the same as Apollo 13's had been - to try to find out the Moon's origin, by sampling the Moon's bedrock.

They carried out two surface EVAs of about 17 hours in total. They had a wagon to carry tools. On the first EVA they assembled a scientific station designed to braodcast to Earth for a year. This included a seismometer and a radar reflector to measure the Earth-Moon distance and the movement of Earth's crust. The second trip involved two stops to measure the local magnetic field, and sample rocks, and a trip to an old crater to collect old rock.

While Alan Shephers and Ed Mitchel were on the surface, Stuart Roosen took photos of the Moon's surface.

The docking of the two modules was succesful first time on return from the Moon - much to everyone's relief I would imagine.

The Apollo 14 astronauts also did not stay in Isolation, as it was now seen that the Moon could not harbour life.