Edgar Mitchell
He was one of the 12 lucky astronauts to ever touch down on Earth’s natural satellite, the Moon
“Mitchell recalled in a 1997 interview that it was Kennedy’s famous speech that made him become an astronaut”
Edgar Mitchell was the sixth person to ever step foot on the surface of the Moon as part of the Apollo 14 mission, exploring the Fra Mauro highlands along with commander Alan Shepard on 5 February 1971. This feat pushed the boundaries of human exploration at the time, with the pair spending more than 33 hours on the Moon, this including the nine-and-a-half hours they spent conducting extravehicular activities (EVAs).
Mitchell was born on 17
September 1930 in Hereford, Texas. His early years would later help him in becoming an astronaut: he was well-educated, graduating with a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1964, as well as being a US Navy member with aviation experience.
Mitchell recalled in a 1997 interview for NASA’s oral history project that it was President Kennedy’s famous speech in 1962 that made him become an astronaut: “After Kennedy announced the
Moon programme, that's what I wanted, because it was the bear going over the mountain to see what he could see, and what could you learn, and I've been devoted to that, to exploration, education and discovery since my earliest years, and that's what kept me going.”
Mitchell was selected as an astronaut in 1966. His earlier involvements include being part of the support crew for Apollo 9 and backup Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 10. He also developed vital procedures at Johnson Space Center that would save the Apollo 13 crew from potential disaster. However, it was Apollo 14 that brought Mitchell’s one and only trip to space.
Along with commander Alan Shepard and Command Module pilot Stuart Roosa, Mitchell assumed the duties of the Lunar Module pilot, spending over a day on the Moon’s surface and making history. This mission saw Shepard and Mitchell set records at the time, including the longest distance travelled on the lunar surface, the largest payload delivered and the longest lunar stay. They were also the first astronauts to transmit colour television back to watchers on Earth. They returned with 43 kilograms (94 pounds) of lunar rock for further analysis.
This mission sparked a spiritual awakening within Mitchell, and this led to him pursuing more unorthodox research interests after his career with NASA and the US Navy. You may be thinking, what could be more unorthodox than going to the Moon? Well, Mitchell’s interests soon turned to parapsychology – the study of inexplicable phenomena – with him conducting research into UFOs, telepathy and so on. He co-founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences in 1973, and as his second wife Anita Mitchell recalled, in the process of this she had “met all the nuts, flakes and fruits in the whole granola box.”
Mitchell passed away at West
Palm Beach in Florida on 4 February 2016, some 45 years after flying on the Apollo 14 mission, and although his latter pursuits were largely deemed unusual, his efforts in space exploration and his motivation to explore beyond humanity’s confines is something to be greatly commended.