Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 February 5 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Apollo 14 Heads for Home Image Credit: [3]Apollo 14, [4]NASA, JSC, ASU (Image Reprocessing: [5]Andy Saunders) Explanation: [6]Fifty years ago this Sunday (February 7, 1971), the crew [7]of Apollo 14 left lunar orbit and [8]headed for home. They watched [9]this Earthrise from their command module Kittyhawk. With Earth's sunlit crescent just peeking over the lunar horizon, the cratered terrain in the foreground is along the lunar farside. Of course, while orbiting the Moon, the crew could watch Earth rise and set, but from the lunar surface the Earth hung stationary in the sky over their landing site at [10]Fra Mauro Base. Rock samples returned from Fra Mauro included a 20 pound rock nicknamed Big Bertha, determined to contain a likely fragment of a [11]meteorite from planet Earth. Kept on board the Kittyhawk during the Apollo 14 mission was a cannister of 400-500 seeds that were later grown into [12]Moon Trees. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC & [33]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2102/AS14-71-9845v2wmktwtr4Jerry.jpg 3. https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo14info.html 4. https://www.nasa.gov/ 5. https://twitter.com/andysaunders_1 6. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/index.html 7. https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a14/a14.html 8. https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap14fj/26_day6_tei_resting.html 9. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS14-71-9845 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fra_Mauro_formation 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210203.html 12. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/moon-trees-stand-as-living-testaments-to-first-voyages-to-moon.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210204.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210205 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210206.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 33. http://www.mtu.edu/