Image 1 of 5On Feb. 6, 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard ended up being the first individual to play golf on the moon. (Image credit: NASA) Image 2 of 5A video still of Alan Shepards Apollo 14 golf shot on the moon. (Image credit: NASA) Image 3 of 5 On February 5, 1971, the Apollo 14 Lunar Module touched down on the moons Fra Mauro highlands, with Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell onboard.– Tom Chao (Image credit: NASA) Image 4 of 5( Image credit: NASA) Image 5 of 5The Apollo 14 landing website.
On Feb. 6, 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard became the very first person to hit a golf ball on the moon. He was there doing clinical research, the unscripted one-man video game of golf was truly just for enjoyable– and it was on live television. Image 1 of 5On Feb. 6, 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard became the first individual to play golf on the moon. He smuggled a makeshift golf club head onto the spacecraft inside a sock. The first ball he hit drifted into a close-by crater, however with a strong 2nd swing, the next ball soared for miles and miles and miles in the moons microgravity. Here, Shepard waits the Modular Equipment Transporter, a cart for lugging equipment on the lunar surface area. (Image credit: NASA) Image 2 of 5A video still of Alan Shepards Apollo 14 golf shot on the moon. (Image credit: NASA) Image 3 of 5 On February 5, 1971, the Apollo 14 Lunar Module touched down on the moons Fra Mauro highlands, with Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell onboard. (Stuart Roosa piloted the command module.) Liftoff happened 33 hours later. Famously, Alan Shepard hit 2 golf balls on the moon at the end of the last EVA.– Tom Chao (Image credit: NASA) Image 4 of 5( Image credit: NASA) Image 5 of 5The Apollo 14 landing website. (Image credit: NASA/All About Space Magazine) Shepard made a makeshift golf club with a six-iron head that he smuggled from Earth, and he connected it to the manage of a lunar excavation tool. Shepard brought 2 golf balls to hit. He could just swing with one hand because his spacesuit wasnt really versatile. One of the balls entered into a nearby crater, and he claimed that the other flew for “miles and miles and miles.” Catch up on our entire “On This Day In Space” series on YouTube with this playlist. On This Day in Space Archive! Still insufficient space? Do not forget to have a look at our Space Image of the Day, and on the weekends our Best Space Photos and Top Space News Stories of the week. Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..