posted 09-04-2016 11:10 AM               

Space Cover 382: Apollo 14 golf ball event – signed

One of the most memorable events that took place on the moon was on Feb. 6, 1971, when Alan Shepard detached the handle of the contingency sampler that he used to collect a soil sample immediately after he stepped from the lunar module, and showed the world that it could also serve as a makeshift golf iron. He then dropped two golf balls on the moon and due to the bulkiness of his EVA Suit, he took a swing at the first, which sliced off screen and was later seen nearby from aboard the LEM. The second ball may have gone about 200 yards thus not coming close to his exclaiming that they had gone for "miles and mile and miles." (See this thread about this event).

When I was a technical buyer at General Dynamics, buying electronics for the F-16 in the late 1970s, my supervisor told me that his dad had designed the modular equipment transporter ("rickshaw") and the club that Shepard used on the moon. Of course I asked him if he could get his dad to sign two covers and write a few words about his role on each of the two.

About two weeks later, he returned my two covers to me. I gave one to fellow collector, Bob Boyd. Pictured above is a Carl Swanson cacheted Space Craft Cover showing the moon cart in detail. The cover below was signed by my supervisor's father with the notation: "Helped in the fabrication of Allen (sic) Shepard's Luna Golf Club. – William E. Drummand." This is one event that is unique in the history of manned spaceflight and these may be the only astrophilatelic covers to tie into it.

posted 09-14-2016 05:27 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob M:
And instead of Shepard using a sand wedge club...

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