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Edgar Dean Mitchell Status: Inactive. Trained as: Astronaut. Profession: Pilot. Sex: Male. Marital Status: Married. Children: Five. Birth Date: 17 September 1930. Birth City: Herford. Birth State: Texas. Birth Country: USA. Nationality: American. Group: 1966 NASA Group. Date Selected: 04 April 1966. Departed: 1972. Number of Flights: 1. Total Time: 9.00 days. Number of EVAs: 3. Total EVA Time: 9.42 hours.

NAME: Edgar D. Mitchell

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Mitchell was born September 17, 1930, in Hereford.

EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science in industrial management from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1952. Bachelor of Science in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1961. Doctorate of Science in aeronautics/astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964.

EXPERIENCE: Mitchell entered the Navy in 1952 and was commissioned an ensign a year later. He completed flight training in July 1954 and was assigned to Patrol Squadron 29 deployed to Okinawa. Assigned to a Heavy Attack Squadron in 1957, he flew off the aircraft carriers USS Bon Homme Richard and USS Ticonderoga. He later served as a research pilot with Air Development Squadron 5 and as Chief of Project Management Division of the Navy Field Office for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory project. He graduated first in his class from the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School, and served an instructor as the school thereafter. Mitchell was selected as a NASA astronaut in April 1966.

Mitchell was selected as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 14, which launched on January 31, 1971. The mission was commanded by Alan Shepard and Command Module Pilot was Stuart Roosa. On February 5, Shepard and Mitchell landed their Lunar Module in the Fra Mauro highlands while Roosa orbited overhead in Kitty Hawk. During 33 hours on the surface, Shepard and Mitchell made two outside excursions during which they set up a nuclear-powered science station, collected 42 kg of moon rocks, and obtained core samples of the lunar regolith.

Mitchell long had an interest in extra-sensory perception and while on the lunar surface he conducted unauthorised ESP experiments with a friend in Chicago. Following the Apollo program, he retired from NASA and from the Navy and founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences in an effort to integrate various scientific disciplines into the study of human consciousness. He has written several books, including the 1996�s The Way of the Explorer.


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Last update 3 May 2001.
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