In the launch control center at Kennedy Space Flight Center (KSC), Walter J. Kapryan, Director of Launch Operations (center), discusses an aspect of the Apollo 14 flight with Marshall Space Flight Center’s (MSFC) Dr. Rocco A. Petrone, Apollo Program Director (right). The Apollo 14, carrying a crew of three astronauts: Mission commander Alan B. Shepard Jr., Command Module pilot Stuart A. Roosa, and Lunar Module pilot Edgar D. Mitchell, lifted off from launch complex 39A at KSC on January 31, 1971. It was the third manned lunar landing, the first manned landing in exploration of the lunar highlands, and it demonstrated pinpoint landing capability. The major goal of Apollo 14 was the scientific exploration of the Moon in the foothills of the rugged Fra Mauro region. The extravehicular activity (EVA) of astronauts Shepard and Mitchell included setting up an automated scientific laboratory called Apollo Lunar Scientific Experiments Package (ALSEP), and collecting a total of about 95 pounds (43 kilograms) of Moon rock and soil for a geological investigation back on the Earth. Apollo 14 safely returned to Earth on February 9, 1971.

S70-36782 (10 April 1970) --- Several NASA and military officials (background at dais) meet the press on April 10, 1970, during a scheduled a T-1 prelaunch briefing for the Apollo 13 mission in the Apollo News Center at the Kennedy Space Center. The briefing participants, from the left, are Dr. Charles A. Berry, Director, Medical Research and Operations Directorate, Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC); Dr. Donald K. (Deke) Slayton, director of flight crew operations, MSC; Chester M. Lee of the Apollo Program Directorate, Office Manned Space Flight (OMSF),NASA Hq. and Apollo 13 Mission Director; Dale Myers, Associate Administrator, OMSF,NASA Hq.; Dr. Thomas O. Paine, NASA Administrator; Dr. Rocco A. Petrone, Apollo Program Director, OMSF,NASA Hq.; Walter J. Kapryan, NASA's Director of Launch Operations; James A. McDivitt, Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office; Roy E. Godfrey, Manager, Saturn Program Office; and Col. Kenneth J. Mask, USAF, DOD Manned Space Flight Support Office. Photo credit: NASA