Former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell passed away the day before the 45th anniversary of his landing on the moon – TASS

NEW YORK, 6 February. / Corr. TASS Aleksey Kachalin /. Former US astronaut, member of the expedition “Apollo 14″ Edgar Mitchell died on 86 th year of life in the city of West Palm Beach (FL). This was reported on Friday, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

According to NASA’s, Mitchell died on Thursday, did not live one day to the 45th anniversary of their collaboration with Alan Shepard landing on the surface Moon, which took place February 5, 1971. Flying in the expedition “Apollo 14″ was the first and only one in the career of an astronaut. Mitchell piloted descent module “Antares” spaceship “Apollo 14″ and became the sixth man, visited the natural satellite of the Earth.

“On behalf of the entire NASA community, I would like to express condolences to the family and friends astronaut Edgar Mitchell. In the crew of “Apollo-14″ he was one of only 12 people, landed on the moon, and helped to change the look of the place of humanity in the universe, “- said in connection with the death of the director of the US space agency, Charles Bolden

. He recalled that in 1971, Mitchell and Shepard set several records, including the length of time on the surface of the Earth’s natural satellite – 33 hours. They also collected samples of lunar soil with a total weight of 41.6 kg. So, back to Earth, astronauts delivered the heaviest load in the entire history of the development of the satellite. These samples were subsequently studied 187 groups of scientists in the US and 14 other countries.

Mitchell after his resignation in 1973 founded the Institute of abstract sciences, devoting the rest of his life to studying the theme of unidentified flying objects. In his book, “researcher Way”, he remarked: “There is a feeling that the presence of us as space travelers and the very existence of the universe is not accidental This is a manifestation of the work (extraterrestrial) mind.”

Edgar Mitchell was born on September 17, 1930. at Hereford (Texas). He defended his doctorate in aeronautics at the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964. Entry into the US astronaut in 1966. Was part of the backup crew of “Apollo 9″, was the reserve driver of the descent module “Apollo 10″.