What brand of golf ball did Alan Shepard hit off the moon? The world may never know

艾伦·谢泼德在月球上击出的是什么牌子的高尔夫球？这个世界可能永远不会知道

Carlos Villagomez owns a golf ball that he believes was flown to the moon. If indeed it was, he may also hold the answer to a more than 50-year-old bit of trivia that otherwise may be forever lost to time.

卡洛斯·维拉戈麦斯拥有一个他认为曾被带上月球的高尔夫球。如果确实如此，他或许掌握了一个尘封50多年的冷知识答案，而这个答案可能永远被时间湮没。

Villagomez was gifted the ball by Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut to fly into space, fifth human to walk on the moon and the world's first (and to date, only) lunar golfer. Wrapping up his second of two moonwalks on NASA's 1971 Apollo 14 mission, Shepard took a swing at a couple of golf balls.

维拉戈麦斯的这颗球是阿兰·谢泼德（Alan Shepard）送给他的礼物。谢泼德是首位进入太空的美国宇航员，第五位踏上月球的人，也是世界上第一位（迄今唯一一位）在月球上打高尔夫的球手。在美国国家航空航天局（NASA）1971年阿波罗14号任务的第二次月球行走接近尾声时，谢泼德挥杆击出了几颗高尔夫球。

"I have a little white pellet that's familiar to millions of Americans. I'll drop it down. Unfortunately, the suit is so stiff, I can't do this with two hands, but I'm going to try a little sand-trap shot here," said Shepard 54 years ago today (Feb. 6).

54年前的今天（2月6日），谢泼德说：“我有一个数百万美国人都熟悉的白色小球。我会把它放下。不幸的是，宇航服太过僵硬，我无法用双手挥杆，但我会试着做一个小型沙坑击球。”

Shepard had NASA's permission to carry out the "moon shot" so long as it met the agency's criteria, including that it be a non-commercial activity. To avoid any company from trying to profit from his one-sixth gravity drives, Shepard kept one key detail secret: the brand of the balls.

NASA允许谢泼德执行这次“月球挥杆”，前提是必须符合机构的规定，其中包括不能带有商业性质。为了避免任何公司利用此举进行营销，谢泼德始终对一个关键细节守口如瓶：这些球的品牌。

"I've never told anybody. I've never told my wife," Shepard once said, as quoted by Sports Illustrated.

“我从未告诉过任何人，连我的妻子都没有。”谢泼德曾在接受《体育画报》（Sports Illustrated）采访时说道。

Related: Alan Shepard: 1st American in space

相关内容 艾伦·谢泼德：第一位太空美国人

What Shepard did do was gift Villagomez — his friend and barber — a signed golf ball just after exiting quarantine following his return to Earth.

谢泼德确实在返回地球、结束隔离后，送给了他的朋友兼理发师维拉戈麦斯一颗签名高尔夫球。

"He shook my hand and I felt something there, and he gave me a ball," Villagomez said in "The Barber, the Astronaut, and the Golf Ball" by filmmaker Jonathan Richards, based on the book of the same title by authors Barbara Radnofsky and Ed Supkis. "I wasn't going to say, 'Was this on the moon's surface?' I didn't want to put him on the spot like that."

“他和我握手时，我感觉到手里有什么东西，他就把一颗球给了我。”维拉戈麦斯在乔纳森·理查兹（Jonathan Richards）执导的纪录片《理发师、宇航员和高尔夫球》中说道。这部影片基于芭芭拉·拉德诺夫斯基（Barbara Radnofsky）和艾德·苏普基斯（Ed Supkis）合著的同名书籍改编。“我没问‘这颗球是在月球表面上的吗？’我不想让他尴尬。”

"I figured I would ask him later, [but] I never asked him," said Villagomez.

“我本来想以后再问他，但最终我没有问。”维拉戈麦斯说。

Whether or not Shepard took a third ball to the moon and then gifted it to his barber without any provenance is the focus of the book and the film. But if he did, and assuming all three balls were of the same make, then Shepard flew Maxfli balls, a brand established in 1910 by the sports division of the Dunlop Tire and Rubber Corporation, currently owned by Dick's Sporting Goods.

书籍和纪录片的核心讨论点在于，谢泼德是否确实携带了第三颗高尔夫球上月球，并在返回地球后将其赠送给理发师。如果确有其事，并且所有的球都是同一品牌，那么它们可能是 Maxfli——一个由邓禄普轮胎橡胶公司（Dunlop Tire and Rubber Corporation）旗下体育用品部门于1910年创立的品牌，如今归迪克体育用品（Dick's Sporting Goods）所有。

Why Maxfli? Well, perhaps it was due to Shepard's sense of humor, suggests Radnofsky. Maxfli might have appealed to him given his hope that the balls would go for "miles and miles and miles," as he proclaimed on the moon. (In reality, his "maximum flight" was only about 40 yards [36.5 meters], as later measured using photos of the balls on the lunar surface.)

为何是 Maxfli？作者拉德诺夫斯基认为，这可能源于谢泼德的幽默感。他希望球能像 Maxfli（即“最大飞行”）的名字一样，飞出“英里、英里、英里远”（miles and miles and miles），正如他在月球上所宣称的那样。（事实上，根据后来的照片测量，这些球的飞行距离仅约40码，即36.5米。）

But then again, Villagomez's gift is not the only claim on a brand of ball.

但话说回来，维拉戈麦斯的礼物并不是唯一一颗涉及品牌争议的球。

Jack Harden, a Houston-local golf pro, helped Shepard create the makeshift club that was used on the moon by sawing off the head of a Wilson Staff Dyna-Power 6-iron and modifying it so that it could attach to the handle of a lunar sample collection device that was already on board the Apollo 14 lunar module. (Shepard donated the flown club to the United States Golf Association in 1974, and today it is on display in the USGA Golf Museum in Liberty Corner, New Jersey.)

休斯顿当地的高尔夫职业选手杰克·哈登（Jack Harden）曾帮助谢泼德制作了月球高尔夫球杆。他将一支 Wilson Staff Dyna-Power 6 号铁杆的杆头锯下，并改装后使其能与阿波罗14号登月舱上的岩石取样工具手柄连接。（谢泼德于1974年将这支球杆捐赠给美国高尔夫协会，如今它陈列于新泽西州自由角的美国高尔夫博物馆。）

Harden also reportedly gave Shepard a couple of two-piece Spalding-brand range balls that were customized with Harden's name ("Property of Jack Harden"), which then became the balls that the astronaut flew to and hit off the moon — at least according to Harden's son in an interview published in Sports Illustrated after Harden, Sr. died (the article, "Shooting for the Moon" by Jaime Diaz, was timed to Shepard's death in 1998).

据报道，哈登还曾赠送谢泼德几颗刻有自己名字（“杰克·哈登所有”）的 Spalding 双层练习球，而哈登的儿子在父亲去世后接受《体育画报》采访时声称，正是这些球被带上了月球。（海梅·迪亚兹的文章《为月球射击》的时间是1998年谢泼德去世时）。

Whether Spalding knew of Harden's gift or was taking advantage of the moment, the company offered a free "Commemorative Moonball" to customers who bought a dozen of its "Dot" balls. An ad said that the promo was "to celebrate Spalding's space flight as first golf ball on the moon" and that the Moonball was "an exclusive edition of the two-piece Spalding golf ball that landed on the moon."

Spalding 是否得知了哈登的赠送行为，或者只是借机营销尚不得而知。但该公司随后推出了一项促销活动，凡购买12颗 Spalding “Dot” 高尔夫球的顾客，即可获赠一颗“纪念月球球”。广告上宣称，这项活动是“为庆祝 Spalding 高尔夫球成为第一个登上月球的品牌”，而这款月球球是“登月高尔夫球的特别版”。

Related: The moon: Everything you need to know about Earth's companion

相关：月球：关于地球同伴您需要了解的一切

Each of the so-called Moonballs was adorned with an illustration of an astronaut (presumably Shepard) playing golf on the moon and was also inscribed, "First Golf Ball On The Moon, Feb. 6, 1971."

每颗所谓的“月球球”上都印有一名宇航员（显然指的是谢泼德）在月球上打高尔夫的插图，并刻有“第一颗登上月球的高尔夫球，1971年2月6日”。

Shepard was not amused. "We cut them off quickly," he said in a NASA interview soon before his death.

谢泼德对此并不高兴。“我们迅速终止了他们的宣传。”他在去世前不久接受美国宇航局采访时说道。

One possible issue with Harden's story impacts another separate claim, too.

哈登故事涉及另一项主张。

In 2015, the Rogers Daisy Airgun Museum in Arkansas debuted an exhibit devoted to Shepard and his moon shot. Central to the display is a matted photo of the Apollo 14 crew that has been inscribed in part, "Our sincere thanks for the Daisy golf balls by Victor ... They are out of this world."

2015年，阿肯色州罗杰斯黛西气枪博物馆（Rogers Daisy Airgun Museum）推出了一个展览，专门介绍谢泼德的月球挥杆。展览的核心展品是一张阿波罗14号机组成员的合影，其上写有：“我们诚挚感谢 Daisy 高尔夫球，——维克多……它们超越了这个世界。”

Although the Daisy Company is best known for its BB guns (hence the "airgun" museum), it did sell Daisy-branded golf balls when it was owned by the Victor Comptometer Corporation. The museum says it was Daisy balls that flew to the moon, based on the inscribed matte and the friendship that was shared between the company's senior public relations executive and NASA's director of public affairs in Houston at the time. The latter is said to have sourced the golf balls for Shepard to fly.

尽管 Daisy 公司主要以气枪闻名（因此该博物馆以“气枪”命名），但当其隶属于维克多计算机公司（Victor Comptometer Corporation）时，曾出售 Daisy 品牌的高尔夫球。该博物馆表示，根据这张照片上的题字及Daisy 公司公关主管与NASA休斯顿公关主管之间的友谊，可以推测谢泼德带上月球的正是 Daisy 球。

Both men have also since died, leaving only anecdotes, and then there is what Shepard, himself, said about the balls. "There were two golf balls, for which I paid — there was no expense to the taxpayer."

但这些相关人员均已去世，而谢泼德自己曾明确表示：“我带了两颗高尔夫球，我自己花钱买的——没有使用纳税人的一分钱。”

If Shepard bought the balls himself, that would seem to rule out their being gifted or acquired by others.

如果谢泼德是自己购买的球，这似乎排除了这些球是赠送或由他人提供的可能性。

Whether the balls were Maxfli, Spalding, Daisy or some other company's may only ever be answered if we can get eyes on the balls on the moon.

要想弄清楚谢泼德击出的高尔夫球究竟属于 Maxfli、Spalding、Daisy 还是其他品牌，唯一的方法可能就是亲眼看到它们。

While the U.S., China, and other countries have plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface within this decade or the next, none are known to be targeting the Apollo 14 landing site, the Fra Mauro highlands, or areas nearby. Most of the renewed focus is on the lunar south pole, where water ice in permanently shadowed craters could become a resource for sustaining a base and producing rocket fuel.

然而，目前美国、中国及其他国家的月球探索计划均未涉及阿波罗14号的着陆点——弗拉·毛罗高地。大多数新任务的重点是月球南极地区，因为永久阴影陨石坑中的水冰可能成为建立月球基地和生产火箭燃料的资源。

Further, there are growing efforts to protect the human heritage sites on the moon from being disturbed. In 2021, the U.S. passed a law requiring domestic companies looking to send new missions to the moon to avoid the hardware and equipment left there by the Apollo missions. Likewise, NASA's Artemis Accords calls for its more than 50 (and still growing) party nations to protect historic human and robotic landing sites as one of its 10 principles.

此外，为保护月球上的人类遗产地不受干扰，人们正在做出越来越多的努力。2021 年，美国通过了一项法律，要求希望向月球派遣新任务的国内公司避免使用阿波罗任务留下的硬件和设备。同样，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）的《阿尔特弥斯协定》（Artemis Accords）要求其 50 多个（仍在不断增加）缔约国将保护人类和机器人的历史着陆点作为其 10 项原则之一。

Most recently, the moon was added to the World Monuments Watch, a list of locations spanning five continents — and now the lunar surface — that should be preserved for the history they represent.

最近，月球被列入 “世界古迹观察 ”名单，名单上的地点横跨五大洲，现在又增加了月球表面，这些地点所代表的历史应该得到保护。

Even if you could find a safe, non-intrusive way to get close enough to read the brand marks on Shepard's two golf balls on the moon, there may be nothing to see.

即使你能找到一种安全、非侵入性的方式，足够靠近阅读谢泼德在月球上的两个高尔夫球上的品牌标记，也可能没什么可看的。

The two "little white pellets" were dropped into an environment that swings from 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) in the daylight to minus 208 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 133 degrees Celsius) in the dark, and that is to say nothing about the exposure to radiation from the sun and cosmic rays.

这两颗 “小白球 ”被投放到一个从白天的华氏250度（摄氏121度）到黑暗中的华氏零下208度（摄氏零下133度）的环境中，更不用说暴露在太阳和宇宙射线的辐射下了。

"In time, the cover would turn brown and, with the cold of the lunar night, probably crack and fall off," said one manufacturer after testing golf balls in lunar conditions, according to Sports Illustrated. "[The ball's cores would] get hard and brittle" [and] "then they'd probably sit there forever in the vacuum."

据《体育画报》报道，一家制造商在月球条件下测试了高尔夫球后表示："假以时日，外层会变成棕色，在月夜的寒冷下，很可能会开裂并脱落。“球芯会变得又硬又脆“，”然后它们可能会永远留在真空中"。

Shepard acknowledged that the balls had probably "exploded by now," but despite that, desired a happier outcome.

谢泼德承认球可能已经“爆炸了”，但尽管如此，他还是希望有一个更快乐的结果。

"Perhaps the youngsters of today will go up and play golf with them," he said.

“也许今天的年轻人会上去和他们一起打高尔夫球，”他说。

Click through to collectSPACE to watch the documentary "The Barber, the Astronaut, the Golf Ball."

点击collectSPACE观看纪录片《理发师、宇航员、高尔夫球》。

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