Fifty years later, Alan Shepard’s golf ball was found on the moon

Last month we told you that the dinosaurs probably beat us on the moon. This month some golf balls were found up there which is not so exciting but please indulge us.

Fifty years ago, on February 5, 1971, Apollo 14 landed on the Moon. In addition to the equipment to try to determine the internal structure of our satellite and to measure the composition of the lunar atmosphere, the astronauts took with them a six-iron golf club head and golf balls.

His first shots didn’t go well, grazing the top of the ball and sending it a few yards. At the third shot, clearly motivated by this count against his score, he chained and the ball flew on a fairly low trajectory. Shepard managed to hit the second ball on the first shot, believing it had traveled “miles and miles and miles.”

One of the bullets was found by fellow astronaut Edgar Mitchell in a nearby crater, but the second was not found until half a century later when the imaging specialist Andy Saunders digitally enhanced scans of the original film taken during Apollo 14. Rather than the “miles and miles and miles” Shepard had thought he had struck, Saunders analysis revealed that despite the low gravity on the Moon, the bullet hadn’t gone far at all.

“We can now determine fairly accurately that the number one ball traveled 24 yards. [22 meters], “Saunders wrote for the American Golf Association (USGA),” and ball number two traveled 40 yards [36 meters]. “

However, as Saunders countered, “The fact that Shepard even made contact and made the balloon take off is extremely impressive.” The suit would have limited movement and the helmet would have made it very difficult to see, not to mention the gravity of a sixth and the lack of atmosphere.

“I would challenge any club golfer to go to their local course and try to hit a six-iron, one-handed, with a quarter-swing from an unbraked bunker.” , he told BBC Sport. “So imagine being perfectly fitted, helmeted and wearing thick gloves. Also remember that there was little gravity to pull the clubhead towards the ball.”

Kudos to Shepard for being the first person to golf on the Moon, but it was, in all fairness, a terrible shot, even though he was wearing a bulky spacesuit.

“As a professional I hear a ton of excuses for poor golf performance, ‘the clubs are too old’, ‘I can never play’, ‘I’m injured’,” said professional golfer Gary Felton at IFLScience. “The truth is that some golfers are bad golfers and they lie. They lie about why they play badly, they also lie about their performance. Mr. Shepard was, unfortunately, a golfer who despite wearing poor golf gear. ill-advised doubt, was a bit of a fiber. You have disastrously embellished your performance on the Moon. “

Saunders calculated that if a professional golfer hit a golf ball on the Moon at 298 kilometers per hour (185 miles per hour) – Earthbound speed of 2016 PGA Champion Jimmy Walker – at a clean 45-degree angle, he could outdo Shepard while landing. the balloon at an impressive distance of 4.22 kilometers, having been in the air for a full minute.

“My recommendation for golfers who choose to play the noble game in spacesuits on the Moon would be a wider stance and shorter recoil,” Felton commented. “And make sure no one is watching.”