Tee Time on the Moon: How Astronaut Alan Shepard Played Lunar Golf [Hardcover]

Astronaut Alan Shepard's mission: Fly to the moon. Study it in more detail than ever before. Hit a golf ball in low gravity. But how far? Find out in this engaging STEM/STEAM picture book.

In 1971, Alan Shepard and his fellow astronauts made their way to the Moon in the cramped Apollo 14 capsule. Their mission: Study the moon in more detail than ever before. While the world watched on TV, Shepard and Edgar Mitchell gathered rock and soil samples wearing stiff, heavy spacesuits. But Alan Shepard had a secret hidden in his sock: two tiny golf balls. Golf was Shepard’s favorite sport. And since the moon has virtually no atmosphere and gravity that is only a fraction of the Earth’s, a golf ball should have been able to go far. But did it?

Here's the little-known but true story of an experiment that may have started as a stunt, but ended up making people think differently about the moon, ask questions, and look for answers.2024 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List
2024 Dogwood Recommended Title (3-5)
A Bank Street Best Children's Book

The author adds plenty of carefully researched detail to a story that is usually barely mentioned in histories, if at all, and, at the end, a very helpful overview of every Apollo mission and what it accomplished. —Kirkus Reviews

The extensive back matter briefly summarizes each Apollo moon mission as well as Shepard’s career as an astronaut. A fresh approach to the history of space exploration. —Booklist

Kelly’s well-researched retelling of this unusual story...does a little fact-checking on Shepard, who...became the 'first human to play a sport on the Moon.' ­Fotheringham’s digital art uses a limited color palette that gilC2