NOVA Online | To the Moon | Apollo 14 Panorama

Apollo 14

Apollo 14 panorama

Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and his Lunar Module pilot Edgar Mitchell landed on the moon nine months after the near-tragic aborted mission of Apollo 13. Though it looks flat in this image, their landing site lay in the lunar highlands, and it was so pockmarked with hills and craters that the two actually got lost at one point. Here, Mitchell studies a photo map on their way to Cone Crater, a 1,100-foot-wide hole left over from a meteor impact. His suit's bulk helped his body cope with the blazing temperatures, which at lunar noon can reach 225°F (at night they can plunge to -243°F). The two-wheeled MET or Modularized Equipment Transporter (seen in the foreground) held sample bags, film magazines, and other equipment. The Lunar Module is a pinprick above the tip of the MET's shadow, near the horizon.