NASA Facts: Apollo 14. Flight to Fra Mauro
Houston, TX: Johnson Space Center, 1971. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Wraps. Quarto, 4 pages. Wraps. Illustrations. Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the United States Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. It was the last of the "H missions," targeted landings with two-day stays on the Moon with two lunar EVAs, or moonwalks. Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell launched on their nine-day mission on Sunday, January 31, 1971. Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5 in the Fra Mauro formation - originally the target of the aborted Apollo 13 mission. 94.35 pounds of Moon rocks were collected, and several scientific experiments were performed. Shepard and Mitchell spent 33½ hours on the Moon, with almost 9½ hours of EVA. In the aftermath of Apollo 13, several modifications had been made to the Service Module electrical power system to prevent a repeat of that accident, including a redesign of the oxygen tanks and the addition of a third tank. Shepard and Mitchell named their landing site Fra Mauro Base, and this designation is recognized by the International Astronomical Union (depicted in Latin on lunar maps as Station Fra Mauro). Shepard's first words, after stepping onto the lunar surface were, "And it's been a long way, but we're here." Shepard's moonwalking suit was the first to utilize red stripes on the arms and legs and on the top of the lunar EVA sunshade "hood," so as to allow easy identification between the commander and LM pilot on the surface; on the Apollo 12 pictures, it had been almost impossible to distinguish between the two crewmen, causing a great deal of confusion. This feature was included on Jim Lovell's Apollo 13 suit; because no landing was made on that mission, Apollo 14 was the first to make use of it. This feature was used for the remaining Apollo missions, and for the EVAs of Space Shuttle flights, and it is still in use today on both the U.S. and Russian space suits on the International Space Station. Condition: very good.
Keywords: NASA, Space, Astronauts, Apollo 14, Fra Mauro, Moon, Lunar Exploration
[Book #13033]
Price: $27.00