DETROIT – It's Throwback Thursday, and you know how much I love history. So here's a fun little story for you.
On this day in 1971, Apollo 14 touched down on the moon. One of its astronauts, Alan Shepard, was an avid golfer, and he took a six-iron and some golf balls with him.
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After conducting the required science experiments and setting up equipment, Shepherd hit two golf balls (due to the bulkiness of his space suit, he had to swing one-handed). One ball landed in what was called "Javelin Crater" (the rod you see in the crater was the staff to the Solar Wind Collector).
If you look carefully, you can see the golf ball toward the bottom of this photo below the rod.
Here's a transcript of the dialogue between Shepard, fellow astronaut Edgar Mitchell and Mission Control during the only "round" of golf ever played on the moon:
135:08:17 Shepard: (Facing the TV) Houston, while you're looking that up, you might recognize what I have in my hand as the handle for the contingency sample return; it just so happens to have a genuine six iron on the bottom of it. In my left hand, I have a little white pellet that's familiar to millions of Americans. I'll drop it down. Unfortunately, the suit is so stiff, I can't do this with two hands, but I'm going to try a little sand-trap shot here. (Pause)
[Jones - "He topped and buried it on the first swing. I assume that the six-iron was snuck on board."]
[Mitchell - "In his suit pocket."]
[The suits each had a utility pocket on the left thigh. During the EVA, Al and Ed wore a larger, strap-on pocket on the left thigh]
135:08:53 Mitchell: You got more dirt than ball that time.
135:08:58 Shepard: Got more dirt than ball. Here we go again.
[Al's second swing pushes the ball about 2 or 3 feet, mostly along the line toward the TV camera, rather than along the line of the swing.]
135:09:01 Haise: That looked like a slice to me, Al.
135:09:03 Shepard: Here we go. Straight as a die; one more. (Long Pause)
[Al's third swing finally connects and sends the ball off-camera to the right, apparently on a fairly low trajectory. He drops a second ball, which rolls left and toward the TV camera. Al gets himself in position and connects again. The trajectory of this shot appears to be similar to the previous one.]
135:09:20 Shepard: Miles and miles and miles.
135:09:26 Haise: Very good, Al.
One mystery still surrounds this story: what brand of golf ball did Alan Shepard take to the moon? Obviously, every golf ball manufacturer in the world wanted to know but, to the best of my knowledge, he never told anybody.
Rumor has it that he hit Titleist's, but I have never seen this confirmed.
How's this for a Throwback Thursday?