#145.012

Apollo 14... Playing golf on the lunar surface During the 1971 Apollo 14 lunar landing mission, commander Alan B. Shepard played a few golf shots in the Fra Mauro region on the Moon! NASA astronauts and sports always went together... 5 decades ago “Golf” became the sport of almost every astronaut as in 1968, astronaut chief Deke Slayton requested that he could play with other astronauts  and approached Golf-pro Danny Lawler to give the Apollo astronauts some  private lessons. Veteran-astronaut Alan Shepard was a keen golf player since the Mercury days and had the idea to play golf on the Moon ! On Apollo 14, Commander Shepard carried a make-shift Iron-6 attached to a geologic sample stick and hit two golf balls on the Moon. The make of the Golf balls was never revealed but the actual Golf stick sits in the U.S.G.A. museum in New Jersey - USA. Note astronaut/Admiral Alan Shepard wore an Omega Speedmaster "Moonwatch" chronograph in the photo holding the make-shift Iron-6 assembly geologic sample tool. (Photo: USGA/UPI)

5o years ago, Apollo 14 on the Moon… February 5, 1971 as Apollo 14 Commander Alan Shepard steps out onto the lunar surface in the Fra Mauro region, we can easily see Shepard kept his Omega Speedmaster chronograph at Houston Mission Control - Texas time as it shows approximately 09:00 Central Standard Time. Commander Shepard was the first to wear a NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 145.012 chronograph on the Moon as he used NASA #75 Speedmaster. Apollo 14 Moonwalkers, Shepard and Mitchell conducted two lunar EVAs, the first 600 m westwards from the LM and a second 2900 m roundtrip eastwards from the Lunar Module Antares. They stayed 33 hours on the lunar surface and collected 42 kilograms Moon rocks & samples. (Photo: NASA)

50 years ago… Omega & Rolex together to the Moon ! February 9, 1971 the Apollo 14 crewmen photographed aboard the recovery carrier USS New Orleans following their safe return from the Nation’s third manned lunar landing mission. Stuart Roosa, left, Alan Shepard, centre, and Edgar Mitchell are housed in the MQF - Mobile Quarantine Facility, a long trailer with living quarters, which they entered shortly after arriving aboard the prime recovery vessel. Once at mainland, this MQF was flown in a C-141 Starlifter cargo plane to Houston, where the astronauts served the remainder of the 21 days of quarantine in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory. In the middle, Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard clearly wearing his NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 145.012 chronograph NASA #75. Fun fact both CMP Stuart Roosa and LMP Edgar Mitchell had choosen to carry their personal Rolex GMT-master 1675 Pepsi pilot watch on this mission. (Photo: NASA)

Remembering Emmy Award winning ABC reporter Jules Bergman American broadcaster/Journalist Jules Bergman, who held a PPL _ Private Pilot License, became well-known for his coverage of the American spaceflight program from 1960s Gemini to the 1980s Space Shuttle. Bergman won an Emmy Award for his Close-Up series of documentaries for ABC. As the NASA astronauts, he enjoyed wearing an Omega Speedmaster chronograph. In this August 1979 photo, Bergman covered the unmanned Pioneer 11 mission as it passed near the ringed planet Saturn. Bergman also covered all other unmanned spaceflight missions such as Viking I & II to Mars and Voyager I & II probes to the outer Solar System. Bergman’s Speedmaster looks like a 145.012-67 reference. (Photo: NASA)

50 years ago... Apollo 14 returned from Fra Mauro... February 19, 1971 Apollo 14 commander Alan B Shepard in quarantine at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory of the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston - Texas. The Apollo 14 Moonwalkers stayed 33.5 hours on the lunar surface and collected 42 kilograms Moonrocks during 19 hours of lunar EVA. As a keen golfer, Alan Shepard wore an alligator logo Lacoste shirt. During the early Apollo-program Deke Slayton asked former golf-pro & Lacoste PR-person Danny Lawler to initiate the astronauts with some golf lessons. This ultimately lead to golf being played on the Moon as Shepard carried an Iron-6 which could be attached to a geologic sample stick in order to make two lunar golf Moonshots. Note Shepard’s NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 145.012 chronograph on steel mesh JB Champion bracelet. (Photo: NASA)

50 years ago Apollo 14, yet 3 Rolex wristwatches to the Moon ! Of course we cannot forget the NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster chronograph as seen in this official NASA White Space Suit crew portrait of the Apollo 14 astronauts. From the left, CMP Stuart Roosa (Speedmaster NASA #71), Commander Alan Shepard (Speedmaster NASA #75) and LMP Edgar Mitchell (Speedmaster NASA #77). The Omega Speedmaster 145.012 reference did make it to the lunar surface in the Fra Mauro highlands. This official crew portrait, taken October 14, 1970 is the only Apollo WSS crew portrait in which each of the astronauts wore their Omega Speedmaster chronographs on a long black velcro strap. In the official Apollo 17 WSS crew photo, the astronauts wore their Speedmaster on a Jacoby Bender Champion steel mesh bracelet. The background shows the Apollo 14 mission logo, based on a drawing of Al Shepard of the official astronaut pin, here put in lunar orbit with the Earth below it by NASA artist Jean Beaulieu. (Photo: NASA)

Essential aviator items, fireproof Nomex gloves and straight bayonet lightweight sunglasses together with a classic Omega Speedmaster 145.012-67 chronograph. In 1967, prior to flying on Apollo 7, astronaut Walter Cunningham worked with an Australian ophthalmologist to develop lightweight and durable sunglasses for the Apollo astronauts. However, the lengthy process required to get the design flight-qualified by NASA proved too much and NASA choose to use American Optical Co. sunglasses, a model with a long history of use in the U.S. military. (Photo: MoonwatchUniverse)

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