On what date did Apollo 14 land near the Fra Mauro highlands of the Moon?
Answer
February 5, 1971
Apollo 14 landed near the Fra Mauro highlands on February 5, 1971.
The lunar module Antares touched down at 09:18:11 UTC, carrying commander Alan Shepard and lunar-module pilot Edgar Mitchell. Stuart Roosa remained in lunar orbit aboard the command module Kitty Hawk.
Fra Mauro had originally been selected as the landing area for Apollo 13, but that mission was aborted after its service-module accident. Apollo 14 later completed the planned exploration and collected rocks and soil from the region.
The mission included two lunar surface excursions. Shepard and Mitchell used a hand-pulled equipment transporter to carry tools and instruments, and Shepard famously struck golf balls near the end of the second excursion. The Fra Mauro landing therefore connected Apollo 14 with both major geological work and a memorable human-interest moment.