![]() “But he thought this would be a great way to demonstrate … a scientific experiment that would really communicate the differences to the people watching below.”īut after some convincing, citing the impact the demonstration could have to non-scientists about the mysteries of space, Gilruth allowed Shepard to use the club pending the mission was successful and complete. “It’s one of those things where you’re undertaking a very dangerous and important mission and to add something that’s potentially seen as lighthearted into the equation could seem unnecessary,” Nenno said. When he pitched the idea to Robert Gilruth, then director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, he was initially met with some resistance. With the addition of the Wilson clubhead, which snaps in the thinnest end of the shaft, NASA’s first golf club was assembled. With a pull of the internal string, all five sections of the shaft were reconnected and with the tying of a knot, the shaft became solid. The modified club fit in a small bag, folded along its five breaks, connected by a piece of string. They chose to create a 6-iron because the length of the shaft for a scientific instrument was about the length of a traditional 6-iron. With the help of Jack Harden, head golf pro at River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas, Shepard crafted a modified Wilson 6-iron clubhead. Shepard as seen during his visit to Golf House in Far Hills, New Jersey on Februto talk about the Moon Club which he used on the moon during his Apollo 14 mission. He used a retractable telescopic aluminum and teflon shaft, which usually attaches to an instrument which collects rock and dust samples on the lunar surface, as the shaft of the golf club with the idea of crafting an attachable clubhead he would fasten to the end when he finished collecting the sample for his experiment.Īlan B. To make his plan fit into the mission as seamlessly as possible, Shepard decided the best way to bring a golf club on board was to make it useful to the mission and compact. During the tour led by Shepard, Hope carried around an old driver and eventually used it for balance when he entered the moonwalker, simulating conditions on the moon. The idea to use golf as the visual hit Shepard when famed comedian Bob Hope visited NASA prior to the mission. One previous idea to demonstrate the differences in atmospheres was dropping a rock and feather in space and noticing how they reacted on release, but Shepard wanted a more relatable, visual aid to demonstrate the differences. Golf Association senior historian Victoria Nenno recounts the idea came to Shepard as he was determining the best way to demonstrate to non-scientists the differences between the atmospheres on Earth and the moon. ![]() ![]() Two years after humans first landed on the moon, Shepard wouldn’t be the first astronaut in space or the first person to walk on the moon on this trip, but he secretly planned to create a first of his own 238,900 miles from home.Ī lover of golf who spent the later years of his life near Pebble Beach, California, Shepard brought two golf balls folded in a sock and a unique 6-iron of his own engineering to space 50 years ago, hoping to become the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon. The mission came first.Īpollo 14, Shepard’s second space flight as commander, was planned for Jan. Top 50 Modern Courses in Great Britain & IrelandĬommander Alan Shepard Jr.Top 50 Classic Courses in Great Britain & Ireland.Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic islands, Central America.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |