On February 6, 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Al Shepard became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon.[‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com](https://www.space.com/39251-on-this-day-in-space.html)

Though he was there doing scientific research, the impromptu one-man game of golf was really just for fun -- and it was on live television. Shepard made a makeshift golf club with a six-iron head that he smuggled from Earth, and he attached it to the handle of a lunar excavation tool. He brought two golf balls to hit. Because his spacesuit wasn't very flexible, he could only swing with one hand. One of the balls went into a nearby crater, and he claimed that the other flew for "miles and miles and miles."