Re: Golfkenttä Kuuhun?

[Nimetön]

Näyttäisi siltä Alan B. Shepard Jr. otti mulliganin käyttöön v. 1971 kuussa.

’Shepard, wanting to be the first golfer on the Moon. brought three golf balls that he planned to ’drive’ across the Moon’s surface. He strapped the head of a six iron to the bottom of a sampling instrument and told Mission Control to watch. According to NASA lore, the balls flew off into the distance and landed several kilometers away. In the lunar void, a golf ball hit at a speed of 200 km per hour at a 45 degrees angle would travel 1.9 km. But the truth is that Shepard buried the ball on the first swing. His second swing knocked the ball a few feet before it came to a dead stop. Mission Control, providing commentary, said that the shot was a slice. His last shot was more succesful, and the ball disappeared in a graceful arc in the direction of a crater. ’Miles and miles and miles,’ cried the triumphant Shepard. He left a ball for future golfers (see ’Astrotrash’ in the ’Environmental Issues’ section in the Introduction).

To prevent falls, you may putt only with chippers. No lunar golfer’s bag would be complete without an ordinary putter and a dust wedge, a club for hitting the ball out of dust traps.

The Shepard Driving Range lies near the landing platform in Plato Crater. Here you can drive luminescent golf balls to your heart’s content. Unlike the lunar golf range in Mont Blanc Resort, you can swing as you would on Earth. To keep you from falling, an elastic cable is hooked to the back of your moonsuit. You can aim at two crater pits 1.6 and 1.8 km away. After a half-hour session, it’s time to go look for the landing sites of the numbered and multicolored balls.’

Carl Koppeschaar

Lue lisää: Rules of Lunar Golf