How was the golf club made on the Moon?
He used a retractable telescopic aluminum and teflon shaft, which usually attaches to an instrument which collects rock and dust samples on the lunar surface, as the shaft of the golf club with the idea of crafting an attachable clubhead he would fasten to the end when he finished collecting the sample for his experiment.
What kind of golf club did Alan Shepard carry on the Moon?
Alan B. Shepard with the “moon club,” and the unfolded club on the right (courtesy USGA Museum) Shepard had to smuggle the makeshift 6-iron club head and two balls on the Saturn V rocket inside his sock, as extra weight and fun and games on the moon wasn’t exactly encouraged by NASA.
Who put golf on the front page of newspapers?
Francis Ouimet put golf on the front page of American newspapers by winning the 1913 U.S. Open. Gene Sarazen put the Masters on the map by holing a 235-yard shot for an albatross in the final round of his 1935 victory. ADVERTISEMENT Shepard outdid them all. He put golf in outer space.
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What happened to the golf ball that Alan Shepard hit on the moon?
Shepard brought two balls with him. The first ball he only skimmed, and it was easily recovered by colleague Edgar Mitchell in a nearby crater. By the second ball, Shepard had gotten the hang of it and sent it flying. That ball then remained missing for half a century.
How far did Alan Shepard's golf ball go?
But in the Moon's airless environment with just one-sixth the gravity of Earth, Shepard later estimated that his modest pitch shot carried the ball about 200 yards (600 feet).
What did Alan Shepard do on the moon?
At age 47, he became the fifth, the oldest, and the only one of the Mercury Seven astronauts to walk on the Moon. During the mission, he hit two golf balls on the lunar surface.
Who played golf on the moon for the first time?
Alan ShepardIt was Alan Shepard, commander of Apollo 14, who was the first golfer on the moon. He was a keen amateur, and the 6-Iron he used is now in the US Golf association hall of fame.
Did Alan Shepard sneak a golf club on the moon?
The Moon Club, a specially crafted 6-iron clubhead, weighing 16.5 ounces, that was carried by Alan Shepard onboard the Apollo 14 mission to the moon, as seen at the USGA Golf Museum. The club featured a clubhead attached to a retractable teflon shaft ordinarily used on a device to collect soil samples.
Did Buzz Aldrin play golf on the moon?
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin attempted to play golf on the Moon. False. It was, in fact, Alan Shepard who took a golf ball to the moon on Apollo 14 – he hit it with a sample collector and it went out of sight!
Is astronaut Alan Shepard still alive?
July 21, 1998Alan Shepard / Date of death
Why was Alan Shepard removed from Apollo 13?
Apollo 13 was the third Apollo mission that was supposed to land on the moon. Tom Hanks played commander James Lovell. He and his crew replaced Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and his crew due to an inner ear problem that Shepard had experienced.
Did Neil Armstrong leave a bracelet on the moon?
Roger Launius, the former NASA chief historian and a former senior curator at the National Air and Space Museum, agreed, saying, “there is no evidence to support the assertion that he left a bracelet of his daughter on the moon.” Though apparently fiction, the moment is a critical one.
Has anyone played golf on the moon?
Here's the inside story. Most golfers really want to avoid sand traps, but NASA astronaut Alan Shepard had no choice but to deal with one when wielding a six-iron head on the moon's dusty surface 50 years ago this month.
Why are there 3 golf balls on the moon?
Alan Shepard, part of the Apollo 14 mission, stands as the only person to hit golf balls on the moon. During the mission, Shepard took a few swings and ended up leaving two golf balls to live on the moon forever. Apparently, he fitted an 6 iron head to the handle of a lunar sample collection device.
Where is the golf club that was on the moon?
the United States Golf Association MuseumYou might think both the sock and club would have ended up in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, but the club on display there is actually a replica. The real Shepard club along with that traveling sock are actually held by the United States Golf Association Museum in Far Hills, New Jersey.
Who hit the golf ball on the moon?
Here's the inside story. A still from video footage shows NASA astronaut Alan Shepard preparing to hit a golf ball on the moon. By this point in the moonwalk, the astronauts had already put away the still-photograph cameras. (Image credit: NASA)
Why did Hope golf on the moon?
Hope took his golf club everywhere, according to the USGA, and Shepard was inspired to do a quick golf session on the moon to demonstrate the moon's gravitational pull, which is one-sixth that of Earth, according to NASA. Shepard, the commander of Apollo 14 and a long-time NASA astronaut, used his connections to discreetly ask for help keeping ...
How far can a male golfer drive?
By comparison, a 2019 report using golf tournaments' gender categories shows that an average amateur male golfer on Earth can drive the ball 216 yards (198 m), and an average female golfer 148 yards (135 m), although those distances have increased significantly since Shepard's flight.
Who said there was no way to go to the moon?
Shepard, however, explained the golf club's construction to Gilruth and then made the director a promise. Apollo 14 astronauts Edgar Mitchell and Alan Shepard practice deploying equipment before their trip to the moon.
When did Bob Hope get the idea for the moonshot?
Click here for more Space.com videos... Sorry, the video player failed to load. (Error Code: 100013) Shepard got the idea for his golf moonshot in 1970, when famed golfer Bob Hope visited NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC, now Johnson Space Center) in Houston, the training hub for astronauts, for a television special.
Who used the golf club on the moon?
Home of the golf club used by Alan Shepard on the moon, and more artifacts from the sport's history. The golf club used by Alan B. Shepard on the moon, and the sock he smuggled it aboard in (courtesy USGA Museum) Alan B. Shepard wasn’t just the first American in space and the fifth person to walk on the moon, he was also ...
Who was the golfer on the moon?
Senior Historian Mike Trostel at the USGA Museum explained to Atlas Obscura over the phone that Shepard’s idea to play golf on the moon came while giving Bob Hope a tour of the NASA complex, who was swinging an old driver he’d brought with him while hooked up to a moon walker.
How far does a 6 iron swing go?
A usual 6-iron swing goes about 150 yards and has an airtime of about 25 to 30 seconds, but that second shot Shepard took went between 200 to 400 yards (not quite the miles and miles he’d said on television, but it likely felt that way in the moment). “Presumably, the ball is still up on the surface,” Trostel said.
How many golf balls did John Deere set down on the moon?
On February 6, 1971 during the Apollo 14 moon mission for which he was serving as commander at the age of 47, he set down two golf balls on the lunar surface.
Where is the Shepherd's Sock Museum?
The real Shepard club along with that traveling sock are actually held by the United States Golf Association Museum in Far Hills, New Jersey. Travel With Atlas Obscura.
Where is the USGA Museum?
The “moon club” and sock (courtesy USGA Museum) The United States Golf Association Museum is located in Far Hills, New Jersey. Click here to find out more about the intriguing artifacts of sports history in the museum.
Who was the man with the moon club?
Alan B. Shepard with the “moon club,” and the unfolded club on the right (courtesy USGA Museum) Shepard had to smuggle the makeshift 6-iron club head and two balls on the Saturn V rocket inside his sock, as extra weight and fun and games on the moon wasn’t exactly encouraged by NASA.
Who was the golfer that used golf to ride the moon?
The idea to use golf as the visual hit Shepard when famed comedian Bob Hope visited NASA prior to the mission. During the tour led by Shepard, Hope carried around an old driver and eventually used it for balance when he entered the moonwalker, simulating conditions on the moon.
Who was the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon?
A lover of golf who spent the later years of his life near Pebble Beach, California, Shepard brought two golf balls folded in a sock and a unique 6-iron of his own engineering to space 50 years ago, hoping to become the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon. USGA senior historian Victoria Nenno recounts the idea came to Shepard as he was ...
How much does the moon club weigh?
The Moon Club, a specially crafted 6-iron clubhead, weighing 16.5 ounces, that was carried by Alan Shepard onboard the Apollo 14 mission to the moon as seen at the USGA Headquarters in Far Hills, NJ. (USGA/John Mummert)
What was the first golf shot on the moon?
The first golf shot on the moon came to life, rolling into a crater about 40 yards away. He had the hang of it now. Shepard dropped a second ball and swung again. Keeping his head down as much as he could, he made contact a second time.
Where is the moon club?
While Shepard died in 1998 at the age of 74, his legacy lives on in the USGA Golf Museum and Library in Liberty Corner, New Jersey, where the moon club and the sock that contained the two golf balls brought to the moon are two of the museum’s most popular items alongside Bobby Jones’ famous Calamity Jane putter.
Who carried the moon club?
The Moon Club, a specially crafted 6-iron clubhead carried by Alan Shepard onboard the Apollo 14 mission to the moon as seen on August 30, 2007 at the USGA Headquarters in Far Hills, NJ. (USGA/John Mummert) “Miles and miles and miles,” Shepard said as he watched it sail. “Very good, Al,” Haise said. It wasn’t really miles.
Who made the Wilson 6 iron?
With the help of Jack Harden, head golf pro at River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas, Shepard crafted a modified Wilson 6-iron clubhead. They chose to create a 6-iron because the length of the shaft for a scientific instrument was about the length of a traditional 6-iron.
Where is the golf ball in the NASA image?
NASA The golf ball is located beneath the javelin-type object in the center of this image. Shepard revealed in 1998 that NASA was not on board with his stunt at first.
Did the golf ball go for miles?
Now, a NASA digital image restorer thinks he’s relocated one of those balls, and as it turns out, it didn’t go for miles. According to The Denver Post, English imaging specialist Andy Saunders spotted the missing golf ball while digitally enhancing the original Apollo 14 video footage for his book Apollo Remastered.
Did Bob Gilruth ask NASA to whack golf balls?
He reportedly asked Director Bob Gilruth of the Manned Spaceflight Center if he could whack some golf balls at the end of the mission, but his immediate reply was, “Absolutely no way.”.
Who was the pilot of Apollo 13?
CAPCOM (Capsule Communicator) Fred Haise, who was the lunar module pilot for Apollo 13, applied some astute commentary from his position in Mission Control: “Looked like a slice to me, Al.”. The location of the first “shanked” ball can be seen in the crater to the right.
Who is Andy Saunders?
Andy Saunders is an imaging specialist and author of the upcoming book “Apollo Remastered.”.