The morning of January 31, 1971, with astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa aboard, Apollo 14 blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.It wasn't all smooth sailing. There were some problems in docking the lunar and command modules. After those problems were resolved, on February 5th, Mitchell and Shepard, finally set foot on the surface of the moon.

Apollo 14
Credit: Hulton Archive, Getty Images
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This was the third landing on the moon for the U.S. Both astronauts conducted scientific experiments, highlighted by hitting golf balls into space with the help of Shepard's club.

During nearly 34 hours on the moon, they collected some 96 pounds of lunar samples.

The best news of all: They returned safely to earth on February 9.

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