OTD In Space – February 5: Apollo 14 Lands on the Moon
- last year
On February 5, 1971, two Apollo 14 astronauts landed on the moon! [‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com](https://www.space.com/39251-on-this-day-in-space.html)
Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard and the lunar module pilot Edgar Mitchell left their crewmate Stuart Roosa in the command module and descended down to the moon in the lunar module Antares. 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.
Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard and the lunar module pilot Edgar Mitchell left their crewmate Stuart Roosa in the command module and descended down to the moon in the lunar module Antares. 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.