may 5th 1961 freedom 7 the United States
took the first small step on its journey
to the moon
America's first man in space Alan
Shepard rode the mercury capsule lifted
216 miles by the Redstone rockets 78,000
pounds of thrust ten years later the
launch vehicle is Saturn five with a
thrust of seven and a half million
pounds on January 31st 1971 the crew of
Apollo 14 would leave Earth on their
mission to the moon
the man who began our first decade of
manned spaceflight would command a
mission that would close that decade
Alan Shepard with him Stuart Roosa who
would orbit the moon alone while Shepard
and Edgar Mitchell explored its surface
their destination a rugged area of lunar
Highlands called fra mauro Apollo 13
aborted as it neared the moon had been
unable to land at this site now we were
trying again
but why fra mauro what happened to the
moon during its first billion years a
period of raised on earth how did the
earth and moon different overall
composition by visiting fra mauro we
hope to sample a very bedrock of the
moon material very different from that
so far collected material perhaps dating
back to the beginning of the solar
system how can you think of the soil
being 4.5 billion years old when igneous
rocks which presumably underlying are
only 3.5 or 3.7 billion years old this I
suppose will be dramatically refuted or
confirmed at the Apollo 14 mission when
they actually visit from our most of the
activity is associated with one place on
the moon and we have tentatively located
that place in or near the crater from
auro
everything went smoothly during Earth
orbit and for the burn that sent Apollo
14 toward the moon then Stuart Roosa
moved the command module Kittyhawk to a
docking with the lunar module Antares
still attached to the third stage of the
booster twice they tried three times as
the astronauts waited an identical
docking probe was brought into Mission
Control this probe on the command module
fits into a funnel-like device on the
lunar module called a drogue tiny
catches on the probes point engaged the
drogue it was these capture latches that
were not holding in space the astronauts
tried a fourth time and a fifth in space
on earth they searched for a solution
then on the sixth try
as they coasted to the moon the crew
brought the probe inside the spacecraft
for examination on earth the probe was
tested and retested
for we had to be sure that the probe
would work for the most critical docking
as Shepard and Mitchell returned from
the lunar surface on February 4th Apollo
14 went into orbit around the moon as
Apollo 14 was on its first orbit the
third stage of the Boosters smashed into
the moon at its planned target point its
impact picked up by the seismometer left
by Apollo 12 the structure of the moon's
interior is one of the major mysteries
of lunar science now another piece was
added that could help solve the puzzle
later that day Shepard and Mitchell
climbed into the lunar module Antares
and undocked prior to descent but as
they checked out the lunar module a
problem appeared an erroneous abort was
being signaled on board Antares and in
Mission Control should this occur during
the landing burn Antares would abort
automatically and the landing would be
off the Mission Control team had two
hours the time of one lunar orbit to
find a solution flight controller dick
Thorson diagnosed the trouble as a loose
particle in the abort button the burden
then came to rest on the shoulders of
computer programmer
Donald Isles
working against time at MIT in Cambridge
Massachusetts he reprogrammed the lunar
module computer to ignore the false
signal this new program was then checked
out in a simulator at Cape Kennedy as
antarious came into contact with earth
again the instructions were sent up to
the crew less than 10 miles above the
lunar surface Shepard and Mitchell swept
across the landing site then another
problem the landing radar which would
tell them their altitude above the lunar
surface
aboard radar there is that you would
like you to cycle the landing radar
breaker okay okay cone crater a major
objective of this mission to Fra Mauro a
hole blasted in the moon's surface eons
ago it could provide a scientific clue
for the history of the men for the earth
and the solar system
we think that the fra mauro area was
formed from materials thrown out by the
impact that created the Imbrium basin to
the north if this is the case we could
get samples torn out from the deep of 60
miles in the lunar crust all in all the
from our material should contain a great
deal of new information about the early
history of the moon and thus help us to
better understand the formation of our
own earth
hey I can give it a few flakes to
through two hundred feet until I have a
per second that looks good mental here
I predict you look great
okay look like you're going right over
there metal of birth Triplett 270 feet
out speaks like a bell
okay solid you're just barely from the
moisture barely conscious it could land
over here there's some stuff out god
you're old you down right now okay third
good rhodium looking great sixty Seconds
forty feet three feet per second 30 feet
per second 330 feet
the second contact five-and-a-half hours
later Shepard left the lunar module to
begin the first of two explorations ten
years later 114 hours 22 minutes after
leaving Earth Alan Shepard stepped onto
the moon it looks like you're about on
the bottom step and on the surface four
minutes later he was joined by Ed
Mitchell
following the tradition of two previous
missions Shepard and Mitchell planted
the flag in the lunar soil
the next job was to load the met a
rickshaw like wagon the astronauts would
use to transport their tools of
exploration and collected samples one of
the big factors in lunar exploration is
mobility in Apollo 14 we had the met
which let us move further afield in the
previous two missions in future missions
we'll use the lunar rover a sort of moon
going dune buggie this mobility will
mean less time spending getting from
here to there and more time collecting
scientific data Shepard pulled the met
while Mitchell carried the bar bell
shaped package containing an automatic
scientific station they would assemble a
station designed to continue
broadcasting data to earth for a year
after men departed from ro
finding a suitable site to place the
scientific instruments was the next
order of business Shepard and Mitchell
now began setting up the automated
scientific laboratory a small nuclear
generator to power the array the Central
Station to transmit data to earth a
seismometer to detect and measure
activity on and within the moon a series
of three experiments to measure charged
particles near the lunar surface an
independent experiment to reflect laser
beams from Earth enabling extremely
precise measurements of such things as
earth to moon distance the wobble of the
Earth's axis continental drift and
shifts of the Earth's crust and a mortar
to be fired by a signal from Earth
sometime within the next year the impact
of its charges would be picked up by
Apollo 14 seismometer
as a final exercise Mitchell used the
thumper a device to explode a series of
controlled shotgun like charges the
vibrations from these detonations were
picked up by a series of instruments he
had previously deployed with the
instruments set up and operating they
headed back toward Antares pausing on
the way to collect samples they loaded
their 44 pounds of lunar material aboard
the lunar module and after four hours
and 50 minutes on the surface climbed
back into Antares
as Shepard and Mitchell rested Stuart
Roosa continued his work from lunar
orbit
his photographs would have meaning not
only to the scientific community but
would have direct bearing on the
planning for coming missions 12 hours 40
minutes later Shepard and Mitchell began
their second exploration period
after loading the lunar rickshaw
mitchell began the journey to cone
crater Shepard adjusted the television
camera then hurried to join his partner
point a the first stop on the trip to
comb here they would collect and
document samples measure the local
magnetic field and take core tube
samples from beneath the surface layer
the quality of the scientific
description by the astronauts could be
termed by earth-based scientists only as
excellent
but now Shepard and Mitchell pushed on
after a brief stop at a second survey
site they began their assault on cone
crater a climb not only toward the
summit of a lunar mountain but back
through time a large crater acts in many
respects like a drill throwing out
material from deep beneath the surface
this material should be very different
from any we've collected before perhaps
dating back to the origins of the moon
and even the solar system
permanent point but indefinitely uphill
how do I pull up the sizes big trader
came take a break get the map find out
exactly where we are the maps they were
using had been made from photography
from lunar orbit the hummert's craters
ridges and boulders took on a new
appearance when seen from the surface
now they were working against time
against the oxygen and water left in
their backpacks against the alien
terrain top orig thinking it's the rim
of the crater and there's another Ridge
standing in a boulder field surrounded
by rocks 10 to 12 feet long the
astronauts made their most difficult
decision with the concurrence of Mission
Control they stopped their climb less
than 150 feet from the edge to begin the
more important job of collecting samples
the crew had no way of realizing they
were so close it was a week after the
mission before we determine this by
photographic analysis while they could
overcome the terrain they could not beat
the steady drain of oxygen from their
backpacks in the terms of scientific
meaning the decision not to go on to the
rim meant little in human terms a great
disappointment the white rock is of
different composition to the Apollo 11
and 12 rocks in fact the chemistry of
all the rocks that are being looked at
so far is different to those rocks
potassium and uranium are 10 times
higher which are the sort of values we
might expect if the firm are rocks
represent ancient lunar crust which of
course is what we're all hoping
again it was time time to head back to
the lunar module
after a quick side trip to check on the
science station they loaded the lunar
module with samples and data and stepped
off the lunar surface the second
expedition had lasted four hours and 35
minutes a total exploration of a record
nine and one-half hours thirty three and
a half hours after they landed Alan
Shepard and Edgar Mitchell lifted off in
the silent vacuum of the moon
Oh baby it's the record
doing up good use
Roger you're looking good from down here
up on one minute half an hour later
Stuart Roosa watched their progress from
Kitty Hawk
is an anticipation gaming it about
Arthur speed closing in a little more
for the pictures of the service module
of Khmer mighdal okay okay it's food and
around we go ohhh oh you look good there
I was 240 pounds coming over the top
rope
would you believe 360,000 yeah Kenny
Arkansas an extremely smooth loop we're
sitting at the 70 feet watching him go
around he looks very clean the
inspection complete Antares and Kitty
Hawk moved together for docking
and we got a hard dock big fire breather
they transferred the gear from Antares
to Kittyhawks buttoned up the tunnel
then jettison the lunar module it would
crash into the moon at a predetermined
spot its impact picked up by their
seismometer and the seismometer left by
Apollo 12 over a year earlier a hundred
and forty nine hours after they left
Earth they performed the burn that broke
them out of lunar orbit during the coast
to earth there would be time to catch up
on sleep relax and do all the little
things left undone and there was one
more item a series of scientific
demonstrations in zero gravity
demonstrations impossible to reproduce
on earth these trials looked at basic
physical properties of matter in
zero-gravity studies that could lead
eventually to new materials manufactured
in space for use on earth on February
9th 1971 nine days after they left Earth
the crew of Apollo 14 hit the atmosphere
of their planet at a speed of over
24,000 miles per hour
they hurtled toward Earth a meteor
heading home on board 95 pounds of the
moon
extremely important those relate to the
question of why we while we're fooling
around the loan it's really that the the
imprint of history of solar system
history on the earth-moon system is
centered on the moon for the first
billion years
what do we hope to gain is we've got a
window right now between T equals zero
the beginning of the solar system and
when the earth so totally messed up
itself that we can't look at it anymore
we'd like to look in there and that
windows on the moon Apollo 14 has
already had a very big scientific impact
and we still have three missions left
they'll be heading into even more rugged
and more interesting areas of the moon
beginning with Apollo 15 the lunar rover
will let us range further afield and
collect more and more very percent of
examples and information the study of
the moon and how for instance elements
and minerals are distributed in its
crust will enable us to learn more about
the process of crest formation on earth
leading to a better understanding of the
way that certain elements concentrate in
the crust will we have had enough
missions to the moon by the end of the
Apollo program probably not you can
never have enough knowledge but at least
it's an excellent beginning
you