Former astronaut Edgar Mitchell (USN Capt. Ret.), who became the sixth man to walk on the moon during the Apollo 14 mission to the highlands of Fra Mauro, died on Feb. 4 in West Palm Beach, Florida at the age of 85. Mitchell’s death occurred on the eve of the 45th anniversary of his landing on the moon aboard the lunar module Antares with Apollo 14 Commander Alan Shepard. Mitchell was born in Hereford, Texas on Sept. 17, 1930, and earned multiple degrees including a Doctorate of Science in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964. Mitchell entered the Navy in 1952 and was selected by NASA as an astronaut in April 1966. He was the lunar module pilot for the Apollo 14 mission, his only spaceflight, joining Shepard and command module pilot Stuart Roosa. On Feb. 5, 1971, Mitchell and Shepard guided Antares to a bulls-eye landing at Fra Mauro, where they spent 33 hours and conducted two moonwalks to collect almost 100 pounds of moon rocks and invaluable lunar soil samples. Following the Apollo program, Mitchell retired from NASA and from the Navy to conduct scientific research in the field of human consciousness.
