It was the last of the "H missions", landings at specific sites of scientific interest on the Moon for two-day stays with two lunar extravehicular activities (EVAs or moonwalks).

En route to the lunar landing, the crew overcame malfunctions that might have resulted in a second consecutive aborted mission, and possibly, the premature end of the Apollo program.

While Shepard and Mitchell were on the surface, Roosa remained in lunar orbit aboard the Command and Service Module, performing scientific experiments and photographing the Moon, including the landing site of the future Apollo 16 mission.

After liftoff from the lunar surface and a successful docking, the spacecraft was flown back to Earth where the three astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean on February 9.

[7][8][9] Apollo 14's Command Module Pilot (CMP), Stuart Roosa, aged 37 when the mission flew, had been a smoke jumper before joining the Air Force in 1953.

He was assigned to squadrons aboard aircraft carriers before returning to the United States to further his education while in the Navy, also completing the ARPS prior to his selection as a Group 5 astronaut.

[21] Usually low in seniority, support crew members assembled the mission's rules, flight plan, and checklists, and kept them updated;[22][23] for Apollo 14, they were Philip K. Chapman, Bruce McCandless II, William R. Pogue and C. Gordon Fullerton.

[31] In addition to the normal training workload, they had to supervise the changes to the command and service module (CSM) made as a result of the Apollo 13 investigation, much of which was delegated by Shepard to Roosa.

The Fra Mauro formation is composed of ejecta from the impact event that formed Mare Imbrium, and scientists hoped for samples that originated deep under the Moon's surface.

Cone crater was the result of a young, deep impact, and large enough to have torn through whatever debris was deposited since the Imbrium Event, which geologists hoped to be able to date.

Harrison Schmitt suggested that the commander had other things on his mind, such as overcoming a ten-year absence from spaceflight and ensuring a successful mission after the near-disaster of Apollo 13.

[49] A third tank was also added, placed in Bay 1 of the SM, on the side opposite the other two, and was given a valve that could isolate it in an emergency, and allow it to feed the CM's environmental system only.

[55] A number of changes were made to avoid pogo oscillations, that had caused an early shutdown of the center J-2 engine on Apollo 13's S-II second stage.

Because it had, just over two days after launch, the mission timers would be put ahead by 40 minutes and 3 seconds so that later events would take place at the times scheduled in the flight plan.

At 60:30 Ground Elapsed Time, Shepard and Mitchell entered the LM to check its systems; while there they photographed a wastewater dump from the CSM, part of a particle contamination study in preparation for Skylab.

NASA believed the computer might be getting erroneous readings like this if a tiny ball of solder had shaken loose and was floating between the switch and the contact, closing the circuit.

[84] The astronauts had been surprised by the undulating ground, expecting flatter terrain in the area of the landing, and this became an issue on the second EVA, as they set out, MET in tow, for the rim of Cone crater.

Mission Control and the CAPCOM, Fred Haise, could see nothing of this, as the television camera remained near the LM, but they worried as the clock ticked on the EVA, and monitored the heavy breathing and rapid heartbeats of the astronauts.

[89] Once the astronauts returned to the vicinity of the LM and were again within view of the television camera, Shepard performed a stunt he had been planning for years in the event he reached the Moon, and which is probably what Apollo 14 is best remembered for.

[97] Some geologists were pleased enough with the close approach to Cone crater to send a case of scotch to the astronauts while they were in post-mission quarantine, though their enthusiasm was tempered by the fact that Shepard and Mitchell had documented few of the samples they brought back, making it hard and sometimes impossible to discern where they came from.

[98] Others were less happy; Don Wilhelms wrote in his book on the geological aspects of Apollo, "the golf game did not set well with most geologists in light of the results at Cone crater.

"[90] Geologist Lee Silver stated, "The Apollo 14 crews did not have the right attitude, did not learn enough about their mission, had the burden of not having the best possible preflight photography, and they weren't ready.

[100][101] Roosa spent almost two days alone aboard Kitty Hawk, performing the first intensive program of scientific observation from lunar orbit, much of which was intended to have been done by Apollo 13.

[102] After Antares separated and its crew began preparations to land, Roosa in Kitty Hawk performed an SPS burn to send the CSM to an orbit of approximately 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi), and later a plane change maneuver to compensate for the rotation of the Moon.

Performing the bistatic radar experiment, he also focused Kitty Hawk's VHF and S-band transmitters at the Moon so that they would bounce off and be detected on Earth in an effort to learn more about the depth of the lunar regolith.

After crew, equipment, and lunar samples were transferred to Kitty Hawk, the ascent stage was jettisoned, and impacted the Moon,[109][110] setting off waves registered by the seismometers from Apollo 12 and 14.

[113] During his rest periods on the voyage, Mitchell conducted ESP experiments without NASA's knowledge or sanction, attempting by prearrangement to send images of cards he had brought with him to four people on Earth.

The designer was Jean Beaulieu,[123] who based it on a sketch by Shepard, who had been head of the Astronaut Office and meant the pin to symbolize that through him, the entire corps was in spirit flying to the Moon.

[126] At the time of its transfer of ownership from NASA to the Smithsonian in July 1977, it was on display at the facilities of North American Rockwell (the company that had constructed it) in Downey, California.

[4] Photographs taken in 2009 by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter were released on July 17, and the Fra Mauro equipment was the most visible Apollo hardware at that time, owing to particularly good lighting conditions.