Date by the Moon
On a crowded afternoon on January 31, 1971, when a continuous rain shower of Florida, Shepard, Roosa, and Mitchell launched Saturn V, the largest and most powerful rocket ever to operational status. They were on their way to their date by the Moon.
But like many dates, it almost fell flat. Attempts to link the Order and Service Model (Kitty Hawk) with the Lunar Module (Antares) it failed five times due to contaminants in the docking equipment. Sin Antares, their lunar adventure was over.
Fortunately, Roosa eventually managed to bring the two vessels together. Four days and 240,000 miles (386,000 km) later, Apollo 14 slipped into lunar orbit, with a low point just 9 miles (14.5 km) above the surface. This move saved Antares fuel and gave Shepard and Mitchell extra time to find a suitable place to land near the rough terrain. However, the gremlins had other cards to play.
Shortly after his release from Kitty Hawk (where Roosa lived), Shepard and Mitchell noticed the red light of Antares abort turn shining on the instrument panel. Neither Shepard nor Mitchell had touched him. And at the time, they did not realize that there was a small lump of metal locked inside the switch, floating freely among the electrical connectors and making random connections. Landing of Apollo 14 was postponed until the problem could be resolved. The turn had to pass, but it also had to be active if a real shortening was needed.
“It was a hell of a risk-averse trade,” Flight Director Eugene Kranz recalled. However, a software package was designed to lock out the version, and in the event of a shortening situation, the astronauts would instead order manually Antares’ keypad. It was a dicey strategy, but their only chance was to land on the Moon.
Then, just minutes into the power saving at Antares’, his radar did not lock to the surface. Shepard and Mitchell were 4 miles (6.5 km) above Fra Mauro and the airwaves were full of weather. They were riding again on the radar circulator. “Hell, it works with my toaster,” Mitchell said cheerfully before succeeding in time. Antares on land just 180 feet (55 m) from his intended target.