Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell passed away February 4, 2016 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo : Reuters)
Edgar Mitchell, one of 12 people who walked on the moon, has passed on at 85, according to Anita Mitchell, Edgar's ex-wife.
Charles Bolden, NASA administrator, issued a statement via NASA official website saying, "On behalf of the entire NASA family, I would like to express my condolences to the family and friends of NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell. He believed in exploration, having been drawn to NASA by President Kennedy's call to send humans to the moon. He is one of the pioneers in space exploration on whose shoulders we now stand."
According to the statement, Edgar died on Feb. 4, Thursday, in West Palm Beach, Florida. His death happened on the eve of the 45th anniversary of his lunar landing that occurred on Feb. 5, 1971.
Apollo 14 crew, launched on Jan. 31, 1971, comprised of Edgar, Stuart Roosa, and Alan Shepard. Edgar was the sixth man to walk on the surface of the moon.
Edgar and Shepard set foot on the lunar surface two different times during the mission, taking more than nine hours gathering rocks, measuring, and Shepard hitting a pair of golf balls. Edgar took a famous still of Shepard standing next to an American flag. The astronauts spent 33 hours on the lunar surface.
Edgar, then the lunar module pilot, found the trip to be a very reflective experience.
Speaking to UK Telegraph in 2014, Edgar said, "Looking at Earth from space and seeing it was a planet in isolation, that was an experience of ecstasy, realizing that every molecule in our bodies is a system of matter created from a star hanging in space."
"The experience I had was called Samadhi in the ancient Sanskrit, a feeling of overwhelming joy at seeing the Earth from that perspective," Edgar added.
Mesmerized and bothered by the relationship between science and religion, Edgar was very open when it came to finding a link between the known and unknown. He unveiled that he had carried out ESP experiments on the trip. Edgar was a belier in extraterrestrial activities as well, and he was sure UFOs had visited Earth.
Watch the clip below for one of Edgar's experience on the moon:
