On 5th February 1971, Apollo 14 landed on the moon
Apollo 14 was part of Apollo program, the United States manned space mission which ran from 1969 to 1972. This program aimed to land the first humans on the moon and bring them safely back to Earth.
The Apollo program succeeded in getting 12 men to walk on the moon, across six space flights. Apollo was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program. It was also the third to land on the Moon, with a two-day stay and two separate moonwalks.
Apollo 14 and its crew of three launched from the Kennedy Space Centre at 4:02pm on January 31st 1971. This was the beginning of a nine-day mission to the Moon and back. Commander Alan Shephard and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell spent more than 33 hours on the Moon. Between them, they spent over 9 hours walking the Moon. Commander Module Pilot Stuart Roosa also made up the third person in the 3-man crew. Roosa stayed in lunar orbit performing scientific experiments and taking photographs of the Moon.
Hundreds of seeds taken into Space by Roosa were germinated on return. Some of these trees – known as Moon Trees – were used in control experiments and planted next to trees of the same sort. Monitoring and analyzing were undertaken on those specimens. Forests throughout the USA were also replenished using some of the seeds. Trees were also presented to Brazil, Switzerland, and Japan.
Shephard, Mitchell, and Roosa returned to Earth on February 9th 1971, landing in the Pacific Ocean
