[Apollo 14]

Ex. Charles "Chuck" E. McKim, Operational Team Leader on the recovery and deactivation/decontamination team from North American Aviation (later North American Rockwell) for all Apollo missions.

FLOWN TO THE MOON AND EXPOSED TO THE VACUUM OF SPACE ON THE THIRD LUNAR LANDED MISSION

Apollo 14 launched on January 31, 1971 from Kennedy Space Center with Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stu Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell. Launched atop a Saturn V rocket, the spacecraft was made up of three parts: Command Module "Kitty Hawk" and the Service Module (manufactured by North American Aviation, later North American Rockwell), as well as Lunar Module "Antares" (manufactured by Grumman Aircraft, later Grumman Aerospace).

Apollo 14 focused on exploring the Fra Mauro region of the lunar surface, gathering lunar geological data, and deploying the Apollo Lunar Surface Scientific Experiments Package (ALSEP). LM Antares made the most precise of all lunar landings to date on February 5, 1971. The spacecraft touched down on the lunar surface approximately 87 feet from the target location. The crew also took high-resolution photographs of potential future landing sites and of deep space phenomena. Over the course of the mission, CDR Alan Shepard and LMP Ed Mitchell collected 94 pounds of lunar material to return to Earth.

The "Kitty Hawk" was the only part of the Apollo 14 spacecraft to return to Earth intact; the Service Module was jettisoned just prior to re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, while the descent stage of the Lunar Module was left behind on the lunar surface, and the ascent stage of the Lunar Module was jettisoned in lunar orbit, left to crash back onto the lunar surface.

The Command Module primary access hatch was designed to fulfill multiple purposes: to provide a perfect seal for cabin pressurization, thermal protection during the extreme heat of re-entry, and a water-tight seal to secure the spacecraft during splashdown and recovery. The Unlock/Unlatch mechanism on the primary access hatch would have been used to gain access to the cabin and crew of the Command Module from the outside.

Included in this lot is an Apollo 14 mission patch. The Mercury 7 began the tradition of astronauts wearing a lapel pin with the design of a three-tailed shooting star encircled by an ellipse. Astronaut candidates and trained astronauts wore silver pins in that design until their first spaceflight, and astronauts who had flown in space wore a gold version. Notably, the Apollo 14 crew included Alan Shepard, one of the original Mercury astronauts. As a result, the mission emblem for Apollo 14 was the first to include the three-tailed shooting star, although this later became a commonly-used element in mission emblem designs.