ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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OTD in Space – February 6: Astronauts Play Golf on the Moon


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On This Day in Space: Feb. 6, 1971: Astronauts play golf on the moon

by By Hanneke Weitering

On Feb. 6, 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon.

Though he was there doing scientific research, the impromptu one-man game of golf was really just for fun -- and it was on live television. Shepard made a makeshift golf club with a six-iron head that he smuggled from Earth, and he attached it to the handle of a lunar excavation tool.

Their descent was a little chaotic. A faulty switch was sending "abort" signals to the landing module's computer, and NASA had to reprogram the computer before they could land. Then the landing radar failed to measure the module's altitude and descent speed.

The problem fixed itself just in time, and Shepard manually landed the spacecraft right on target.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)