Alan Shepard and the Story of Golf on the Moon during Apollo 14 — Transcript

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1. 0:11Hi, I'm Nick History Kid. I'm a young
2. 0:14patriot who loves history, especially
3. 0:16out of this world history. Today I'm in
4. 0:19Far Hills, New Jersey at the USGA
5. 0:21Museum.
6. 0:33I know you're thinking, "What does the
7. 0:35US Golf Association have to do with
8. 0:37anything out of this world?" Well, today
9. 0:41I'm going to tell you about the furthest
10. 0:43golf ball driven in the universe.
11. 0:52This is not a story about Arnold Palmer
12. 0:54or Tiger Woods. This is a true story
13. 0:56about an astronaut. His name was Alan
14. 0:59Shepard and he lived from 1923 to 1998.
15. 1:10Alan Shepard was an American naval
16. 1:12aviator, test pilot, flag officer, NASA
17. 1:15astronaut, and businessman who in 1961
18. 1:19became the second person and the first
19. 1:21American to travel into space.
20. 1:4110 years later in 1971, Alan Shepard
21. 1:45commanded the Apollo 14 mission,
22. 1:47piloting the lander to the most accurate
23. 1:50landing of the Apollo missions. He
24. 1:52became the fifth person to walk on the
25. 1:54moon and the only astronaut of the
26. 1:57Mercury 7 to accomplish that.
27. 2:12It was as commander of Apollo 14 that
28. 2:15Alan Shepard made universal sports
29. 2:17history. While on the moon, Shephard
30. 2:20used this Wilson sixiron head attached
31. 2:23to a lunar sample scoop handle. He was
32. 2:26forced to swing the club with one hand
33. 2:29because of his thick gloves and spacuit.
34. 2:46Before
35. 3:00the flight, Shephard went to Houston to
36. 3:02a country club and had a man jerryrig a
37. 3:05retractable instrument that could be
38. 3:07used for rock and soil samples into
39. 3:09affordable sixiron. This is that
40. 3:12historic club.
41. 3:59He hit two balls on the moon. The first
42. 4:01ball angled off into a crater. His
43. 4:04second shot was solid and the ball swore
44. 4:06for miles and miles and miles in the
45. 4:08light gravity which is 16 that of
46. 4:10Earth's.
47. 4:21During a 1996 speech at the USGAA, Allan
48. 4:25recalled receiving a call about the Moon
49. 4:28Club. The Smithsonian said they were
50. 4:30building a new exhibit at the Air and
51. 4:32Space Museum and won the golf club.
52. 4:42Shepherd said that he was sorry, but he
53. 4:45didn't have it. He gave it away. Their
54. 4:48reply was, "Don't you know that it flew
55. 4:51in a government spacecraft and it
56. 4:53automatically becomes the property of
57. 4:55the Smithsonian?" This is where it's
58. 4:57been since 1974.
59. 5:00Now, you could come here and see it for
60. 5:02yourself.
61. 5:34Now, those two golf balls are still
62. 5:37supposed to be on the moon. I have a
63. 5:39different theory on how far they
64. 5:40traveled. I call it the force skip
65. 5:43theory. As you can see from my chart, I
66. 5:46predicted the ball travel further and
67. 5:48further after skipping the lunar
68. 5:50surface, eventually leaving the moon's
69. 5:52atmosphere. It's now been 43 years since
70. 5:55that golf shot. I thought it would find
71. 5:57its way back to Earth last year in 2013.
72. 6:08If you're ever in New Jersey, come to
73. 6:10the USGA Golf Museum.
74. 6:15Ah, what's this? Apollo 14. I was only
75. 6:21one year off. Until next time, I'm Nick
76. 6:24the kid. Remember my state slogan, New
77. 6:26Jersey. From the Revolutionary War to
78. 6:28the Jersey Shore, both history and fun
79. 6:30awaits you.
80. 6:42If you're ever in Far Hills, New Jersey,
81. 6:45come see the USGAA Golf Museum.
82. 6:49I missed