What happened to those golf balls on the moon?
Friday, July 9th, 2010 at
10:52 pm
One of the astronauts on an Apollo mission hit some golf balls on the moon, what happened I heard different stories some say they didnt go very far and others said they did. If a golfer can drive a ball 200 yards on Earth how far would you expect the same golfer to drive a ball on the moon? How far on Mars?
Good Related Blogs
Tagged with: apollo mission • astronauts • earth • Golf Balls • moon
Filed under: Golf Balls
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard hit two golf balls at the end of his Apollo mission. According to his copilot Ed Mitchell the farthest one only went about 60 feet, although Shepard joked on the radio that it went for "miles and miles." Mission Control’s comment, "Looked like a slice to me," is also a joke — a "slice" in golf requires air for the spinning ball to interact with.
A golfer on Earth using proper form can hit a golf ball hundreds of yards. But an astronaut hampered by his space suit is lucky to hit it at all. Shepard missed his first few strokes entirely, and could only manage a one-handed swing. If he were able to take a proper swing unimpeded, he would probably be able to drive the ball a great distance.