Ed Mitchell was one of the men chosen to join NASA’s astronaut corps as part of Group 5 in April of 1966. He was on Apollo 9’s support crew, then the backup Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 10, which put him in line to fly on Apollo 13. Of course, the mission’s Commander Al Shepard had to slip to a later flight when his Meniere’s flared up, so Mitchell ended up on Apollo 14. On February 5, 1971, he became the sixth man to walk on the Moon.
Mitchell passed away Thursday, February 4, 2016, one day before the 45th anniversary of his lunar landing. Rather than write a long commemorative article of a man lucky and clever enough to join the elite group of astronauts who walked on the Moon, I thought I’d let Mitchell tell you about his mission in his own words.
I’m also still live tweeting the Apollo 14 so come follow me on Twitter — @astVintageSpace — to get a sense of Mitchell as he, Shepard, and Command Module Pilot Stu Roosa return home from the Moon. You can also catch up on tweets you missed, including lunar landing and both EVAs, here.
