The Conversation: Golfing on the Moon

Feb. 3, 2011— -- This Super Bowl Sunday marks a big anniversary for an event in sports that was truly out of this world. It happened on the moon.

Forty years ago this Sunday, Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell took an entirely different kind of "giant leap for mankind," playing sports on the lunar surface.

Shepard famously hit golf balls with a modified six-iron, and Mitchell threw a javelin. All these years later, the images of their fun on the moon are almost as closely associated with the Apollo moon program as the lunar rover.

"That was the first lunar Olympics," said Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon. He is now 80 and living in Florida.

Mitchell and Shepard, who died in 1998, were on the moon to conduct science experiments. The conducted two moonwalks, or EVA's, over two days. But just before they left the surface, they snuck in a few minutes for fun.

"We had very little time, just a few seconds to pull that off," Mitchell said, "less than a minute or so.

"[Shepard] hit his golf ball, after three whacks at it... I threw a javelin, using a staff from the solar wind experment," he said.

As Shepard struck the ball, he joked on the radio that his shot went "miles and miles," but Mitchell is still setting the record straight. While Shepard's golf swing is most-often remembered in the history books, Mitchell's javelin throw actually went further.

"By about 4 inches," Mitchell said with a laugh. "His golf hit didn't go very far either, simply because he was swinging one-handed in a pressure suit."

The golf ball and javelin are still on the lunar surface, but Shepard's special six iron is now on display at the USGA Golf House in Far Hills, N.J.