First Golf Shot on the Moon
February 6, 1971 - It was on this day that astronaut Alan Shepard became the first man to hit golf balls in space.
Shepard, commander of Apollo 14, improvised a golf club by attaching a six-iron head to a lunar scoop handle. During a moonwalk near the Fra Mauro highlands, he pulled two golf balls from his pocket and took several one-handed swings, limited by the bulk of his spacesuit.
After a couple of mishits, Shepard connected solidly, later joking that the ball traveled “miles and miles and miles.” While exaggerated, the shot likely flew several hundred yards in the Moon’s low gravity.
