Alan Shepard's lunar golf

One of my 2.5-year-old son's favorite books is "A Is For Astronaut: Exploring Space from A to Z." Listed under the letter "G" is "golfball," for the balls that Alan Shepard hit on the moon during the 1971 Apollo 14 mission. This week, the "Question" section in the New York Times' Science Times recounts the interesting story behind Shepard's historic swings. From the NYT:

“Being a golfer,” he said, “I thought if I could just get a club up there, and get it going through the ball at the same speed, that it would go six times as far as it would have gone here on Earth.”

So with NASA’s permission, he designed a club head to fit on the handle of the device the astronauts used to scoop up dust samples. (The collapsible club was brought back to Earth and became the property of the United States Golf Association.)

Before the flight, he practiced using it in a space suit and made a deal that if the mission went well, “then the last thing I was going to do, before climbing up the ladder to come home, was to whack these two golf balls.”

Lunar Golf

Discussion

Take a look at this

#1 posted by Chris Spurgeon , October 15, 2008 10:58 AM

The lunar golf swing was geeky cool, but I gotta say I believe it did big damage. It gave big ammo to those who thought the space program was a waste of taxpayer dollars.

#2 posted by Zan

, October 15, 2008 11:33 AM

The only problem is that the second ball only rolled a few yards, but since it was out of view of the camera he said "miles and miles" and everyone believed him. Apparently both golfballs were spotted quite close to the LEM when the images of the landing site were analysed.

#3 posted by Rambling Canuck , October 15, 2008 11:33 AM

I love this story. It may have provided a little bit of ammo for the naysayers, but I bet every single one of them wished they could have been Alan at that moment.

BTW, A is for Astronaut is my son's favorite book, too. Good stuff.

#4 posted by franko , October 15, 2008 11:59 AM

so, wait -- those golf balls are still up there? man, now we HAVE to go back to the moon, if only to get them and put them in the smithsonian.

#5 posted by ImFeelinLucky , October 15, 2008 12:05 PM

Just be glad Shepard's sport of choice wasn't bowling.

#6 posted by Brett Burton , October 15, 2008 12:23 PM

This golf ball stuff is all just more smoke and mirrors to convince us that anyone ever actually went to the moon. I'm not buying it!

#7 posted by phlavor , October 15, 2008 12:55 PM

In related news, a golf ball sailed through the window of the International Space Station today...

#8 posted by nanuq , October 15, 2008 3:05 PM

The astronauts had no business playing golf on the moon. They should have gone with an American sport like baseball.

#9 posted by Jake0748 , October 15, 2008 7:37 PM

Even if the ball did go "miles and miles", I'll bet he still didn't hit the green.

I hope he used a sand wedge.

#10 posted by Guysmiley , October 16, 2008 7:50 AM

Apparently both golfballs were spotted quite close to the LEM when the images of the landing site were analysed.

Source? From what I've read the first (sliced) ball went only a few yards (about as far as the "javelin" throw), but the second one went 200-400 yards, which is not bad one-handed while wearing a pressurized space suit!

#11 posted by travelina

, October 16, 2008 7:49 PM

Oh my, check out this video of outrageous prankster Remi Galliard dressed as an astronaut and bouncing around a golf course on moon shoes, to the consternation of the other golfers:
http://urbanprankster.com/2008/10/astronaut-lands-on-the-green/