On this day 44 years ago, Alan Shepard played golf on the moon.
As part of the Apollo 14 mission, Shepard hit a pair of golf balls on the surface of the moon on Feb. 6, 1971. Shepard fashioned a golf club using a Wilson 6-iron head and a piece of rock-collecting equipment, smuggling it on board covered with a sock.
Following a walk on the lunar surface, Shepard brought out the makeshift club, shanking the first shot and hitting his second a self-estimated 200 yards. With gravity on the moon one-sixth that found on Earth and a total lack of an atmosphere, the ball wouldn't have gone that far here at home.
Shepard, who was the first American in space, died in 1998.
