Free Republic

After the near-disaster of Apollo 13 some ten months earlier, NASA and the Apollo program badly needed a successful mission. Apollo 14 delivered this more than adequately, although at times it was a close call. The landing site for this mission was the Fra Mauro Formation at the edge of the Imbrium Basin, re-targeted from the ill-fated Apollo 13 flight. Apollo 14 is significant as the first lunar mission to make landfall in a region other than the flat mare topography of the earlier landings. It features a hilly, hummocky, ridge-like topography, and was thought likely to contain ejecta from...

Unlucky Apollo 13 was launched from KSC on April 11, 1970. Liftoff occurred at 2:13 pm EST, which, auspiciously, was 13:13 CST at MSC in Houston. For the superstitious among us, this in-your-face planning by NASA could only bode ill for the mission. The remarkable journey of Apollo 13 has been documented in print and, most famously, the motion picture starring Tom Hanks. Since most of us know the overall story, we will focus here on the notable aspects and perhaps lesser-known but still interesting details. The third manned lunar landing mission was targeted for the Fra Mauro feature, near...