485 a
Alan Shepard

Portrait of Weird Rock

Apollo 14, January 31 - February 9, 1971, EVA 2, 134:04:53 GET

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA MSC caption on the verso, numbered “NASA AS14-64-9135” in black in top margin

485 b
Alan Shepard

Edgar Mitchell making a stop on his way back to the LM with the Modularized Equipment Transporter (MET), station F

Apollo 14, January 31 - February 9, 1971, EVA 2, 134:07:18 GET

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA HQ caption numbered “71-H-356” on the verso [NASA AS14-64-9140]

485 c
Alan Shepard
Panoramic sequence of the Moonscape toward Old Nameless Crater, station F

Apollo 14, January 31 - February 9, 1971, EVA 2, 134:07:18 GET

Set of four unreleased photographs: two vintage USGS gelatin silver “proof” prints on fiber-based paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), numbered “AS14-64-9150, AS14-64-9152” in margin; and two vintage gelatin silver prints on fiber-based paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in) and with “STA F PAN 12” hand written in black ink in right margin, numbered “NASA AS14-64-9151, AS14-64-9153” (NASA MSC) in black in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

485 c
NASA SP-272, p. 44.

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Lot Essay

485 a
On the way to Station F, Alan Shepard made a quick side trip to examine this long boulder (approximately 2 m wide at the base and 1.25 m high), now known as Weird Rock (after nearby Weird Crater). Weird Rock was located 65 m north east of station F.
134:04:53 Shepard: Sure is a big old boulder! I’ll take a picture of it anyway. (Pause)
134:05:11 Haise (Mission Control): Okay, and this big boulder, Al, is...You’re just about at Weird now. Is that right?
134:05:23 Shepard: Oh, probably a couple of hundred meters short of Weird. (Long Pause)
134:05:42 Mitchell: This country is so rolling and undulating, Fred, with rises and dips everywhere, that you can be going by a fairly good-size crater and not even recognize it.

485 b
A frame of the panoramic sequence taken by Shepard at station F, located about 330 m east of the LM which is in the left background.

“Even if the crew fell behind schedule during the traverse due to the difficulty in walking over the rugged terrain, the trip back was quick and uneventful. Shepard and Mitchell showed that, in the event of a Rover breakdown during future missions, a crew could walk back to the LM from a
considerable distance” (from the ALSJ mission summary).

“You know, you’re not heavy, and you have the feeling that you’re floating a lot of the time,” said Mitchell. You’re just kind of touching your feet every so often. Moving over the surface was fairly effortless, except for the cumbersomeness of the suit. We weren’t heavy at all” (Chaikin, Voices, p. 72).

485 c
The four overlapping photographs provide a panoramic view showing the station F landscape near Weird Crater which the astronauts did not recognize.
The station was 330 m east of the LM and 65 m south west of Weird Rock previously visited by the crew.
Old Nameless Crater is in the background.
Shepard did not use the right focal setting on the Hasselblad for his panorama, thus the photographs are slightly out-of-focus.

“Old Nameless Crater is a distinctive crater dug into the north-facing slope of a ridge south of the landing site. Its distance from the LM is 2.6 km” (Apollo Lunar Surface Journal).

134:06:41 Shepard: Okay, I’ll get the pan. I think (Weird) crater itself, Ed, is right in here, isn’t it?
134:06:46 Mitchell: Where are you?
134:06:47 Shepard: Behind you, to your left. Probably right in there.
134:06:54 Mitchell: No, I didn’t think so; I think this is it right here.
134:06:58 Shepard: It looks too small, I believe. Well, anyway, we’re in the area, Houston.
134:07:03 Mitchell: We’ve got a minute to find it.
134:07:10 Haise: Okay, Al, I think...
134:07:12 Mitchell: (Garbled under Haise)
134:07:12 Haise: ...the pan will fill us in as to the exact position, there.
134:07:18 Shepard: Okay, pan’s underway now.