Instrument Host Overview
  ========================
    The Apollo 14 Lunar Module (LM) ''Antares'' was the third crewed
    vehicle to land on the Moon.  It carried two astronauts, Commander Alan
    B. Shepard Jr. and LM pilot Edgar D. Mitchell, the fifth and sixth men
    to walk on the Moon.  Also included on the LM was the Apollo Lunar
    Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) containing scientific experiments
    to be deployed and left on the lunar surface and other scientific and
    sample collection apparatus.
 
    The LM separated from the Command/Service Module (CSM) at 04:50:44 UT
    and landed at 09:18:11 UT (4:18:11 a.m. EST) on 5 February 1971 in the
    lunar highlands near the crater Fra Mauro at 3.6453 S latitude, 17.4714
    W longitude (IAU Mean Earth Polar Axis coordinate system
    [DAVIES&COLVIN2000]).  The LM landed on the slope of a small
    depression, tilted at 8 degrees.  Shepard and Mitchell made two moonwalk
    extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) totaling 9 hours, 23 minutes.  The
    first EVA began at 14:42:13 UT and ended at 19:30:03 UT.  During this
    first EVA the astronauts deployed the ALSEP and other experiments.
    During the second EVA, which took place from 8:11:15 to 12:45:56 UT on
    6 February, the astronauts walked almost to the rim of nearby Cone
    crater, collecting samples along the traverse.  At the end of this walk
    Shepard used a contingency sampler with a 6-iron connected to the end
    to hit two golf balls.  The astronauts traversed a total of 3.45 km and
    collected 42.28 kg of lunar samples.
 
    The LM lifted off the Moon on 6 February at 18:48:42 UT after 33 hours
    31 minutes on the lunar surface.  After docking with the CSM (piloted
    by Stuart A. Roosa) at 20:35:53 UT, the LM was jettisoned at 22:48:00
    UT and impacted the Moon at 3.42 S, 19.67 W, between the Apollo 12 and
    Apollo 14 seismic stations, at 00:45:25 UT on 7 February.
 
 
    Lunar Module Spacecraft and Subsystems
    --------------------------------------
      The lunar module was a two-stage vehicle designed for space
      operations near and on the Moon.  The spacecraft mass of 15,264 kg
      was the mass of the LM including astronauts, expendables, and 11,010
      kg of propellants.  The fully fueled mass of the ascent stage was
      4943 kg and the descent stage 10,334 kg.  The ascent and descent
      stages of the LM operated as a unit until staging, when the ascent
      stage functioned as a single spacecraft for rendezvous and docking
      with the command and service module (CSM).  The descent stage
      comprised the lower part of the spacecraft and was an octagonal prism
      4.2 meters across and 1.7 m thick.  Four landing legs with round
      footpads were mounted on the sides of the descent stage and held the
      bottom of the stage 1.5 m above the surface.  The distance between
      the ends of the footpads on opposite landing legs was 9.4 m.  One of
      the legs had a small astronaut egress platform and ladder.  A one
      meter long conical descent engine skirt protruded from the bottom of
      the stage.  The descent stage contained the landing rocket, two tanks
      of aerozine 50 fuel, two tanks of nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer, water,
      oxygen and helium tanks and storage space for the lunar equipment and
      experiments, and in the case of Apollo 15, 16, and 17, the lunar
      rover.  The descent stage served as a platform for launching the
      ascent stage and was left behind on the Moon.
 
      The ascent stage was an irregularly shaped unit approximately 2.8 m
      high and 4.0 by 4.3 meters in width mounted on top of the descent
      stage.  The ascent stage housed the astronauts in a pressurized crew
      compartment with a volume of 6.65 cubic meters.  There was an
      ingress-egress hatch in one side and a docking hatch for connecting
      to the CSM on top.  Also mounted along the top were a parabolic
      rendezvous radar antenna, a steerable parabolic S-band antenna, and 2
      in-flight VHF antennas.  Two triangular windows were above and to
      either side of the egress hatch and four thrust chamber assemblies
      were mounted around the sides.  At the base of the assembly was the
      ascent engine.  The stage also contained an aerozine 50 fuel and an
      oxidizer tank, and helium, liquid oxygen, gaseous oxygen, and
      reaction control fuel tanks.  There were no seats in the LM.  A
      control console was mounted in the front of the crew compartment
      above the ingress-egress hatch and between the windows and two more
      control panels mounted on the side walls.  The ascent stage was
      launched from the Moon at the end of lunar surface operations and
      returned the astronauts to the CSM.
 
      The descent engine was a deep-throttling ablative rocket with a
      maximum thrust of about 45,000 N mounted on a gimbal ring in the
      center of the descent stage.  The ascent engine was a fixed,
      constant-thrust rocket with a thrust of about 15,000 N. Maneuvering
      was achieved via the reaction control system, which consisted of the
      four thrust modules, each one composed of four 450 N thrust chambers
      and nozzles pointing in different directions.  Telemetry, TV, voice,
      and range communications with Earth were all via the S-band antenna.
      VHF was used for communications between the astronauts and the LM,
      and the LM and orbiting CSM.  There were redundant tranceivers and
      equipment for both S-band and VHF.  An environmental control system
      recycled oxygen and maintained temperature in the electronics and
      cabin.  Power was provided by 6 silver-zinc batteries.  Guidance and
      navigation control were provided by a radar ranging system, an
      inertial measurement unit consisting of gyroscopes and
      accelerometers, and the Apollo guidance computer.
 
 
    Scientific Experiments
    ----------------------
      The following scientific experiments were performed on board or at
      the Apollo 14 Lunar Module:
 
      - The Photography Experiment documented the deployment of
        experiments, augmented crew observations and descriptions of the
        lunar traverses, and recorded the effects of the interaction
        between Apollo equipment and the lunar surface.
 
      - The Lunar Field Geology Experiment entailed the collection and
        documentation fo geologic rock samples.
 
      - The Laser Ranging Retroreflector permitted ground-based stations to
        conduct short-pulse laser ranging to a corner reflector array on
        the lunar surface at the Fra Mauro site.
 
      - Lunar Portable Magnetometer obtained additional scientific
        information about the location, strength, and dimensions of local
        magnetic sources.
 
      - The Soil Mechanics Experiment studied the properties of the lunar
        soil.
 
      - The Solar Wind Composition Experiment collected samples of the
        solar wind for analysis on Earth.
 
      - The S-Band Transponder Experiment measured the lunar gravitational
        field by observing the dynamical motion of the spacecraft in free
        fall orbits to provide information about the distribution of lunar
        mass.
 
    For more information about the lunar module and its experiments, see
    the Apollo 14 preliminary science report (1971) [APOLLO14A1971].
 
 
  This instrument host description was provided by the NASA National Space
  Science Data Center (NSSDC).