Stuart Roosa Stuart Allen Roosa ( August 16 , 1933 – December 12 , 1994 ) was a NASA astronaut , who was the command module pilot for the Apollo 14 mission . The mission lasted from January 31 to February 9 , 1971 and was the third mission to land astronauts ( Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell ) on the Moon . While Shepard and Mitchell spent two days on the lunar surface , Roosa conducted experiments from orbit in the command module " Kitty Hawk " . He was one of only 24 people to travel to the Moon . Roosa was born in Durango , Colorado , and grew up in Claremore , Oklahoma . He attended Oklahoma State University and the University of Arizona . Career . He started his career as a smokejumper with the U . S . Forest Service in the early 1950s . He joined the U . S . Air Force in 1953 , attended Gunnery School at Del Rio Air Force Base , Texas , and Luke Air Force Base , Arizona , and was a graduate of the Aviation Cadet Program at Williams Air Force Base , Arizona , where he received his flight training commission in the Air Force . From July 1962 to August 1964 , Roosa was a maintenance flight test pilot at Olmsted Air Force Base , Pennsylvania , flying F - 101 aircraft . He was a fighter pilot at Langley Air Force Base , Virginia , where he flew the F - 84F and F - 100 aircraft . He graduated from the Aerospace Test Pilots School and was an experimental test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base , California from 1965 to 1966 . Throughout his career , Roosa logged more than 5 , 500 hours of flying time ( 5 , 000 hours in jets ) and 217 hours in space . He also served as chief of service engineering at Tachikawa Air Base , Japan , for two years following graduation from the University of Colorado , under the Air Force Institute of Technology Program . Roosa was one of 19 people selected as part of the astronaut class of 1966 and served as a member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 9 mission . On Apollo 14 he spent 33 hours in solo orbit around the Moon , conducting an extensive series of experiments . His ability as a Command Module Pilot was put to the test when initial attempts to dock with the Lunar Module failed , and the problems were overcome only by Roosa ' s skill and careful coordination of the crew and ground controllers . He also carried tree seeds as part of a joint U . S . Forest Service / NASA project . The seeds were germinated on his return and planted throughout the United States , becoming known as the " Moon Trees " . Following Apollo 14 , Roosa served as backup command module pilot for Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 , and based on crew rotations , would probably have commanded one of the last Apollo missions had it not been cancelled . He was assigned to the Space Shuttle program until his retirement as a colonel from the Air Force in 1976 . After leaving NASA and the Air Force , he held a number of positions in international and U . S . businesses , and became owner and president of Gulf Coast Coors in 1981 . His daughter Rosemary was named CEO of Gulf Coast Coors several years later . Honors and awards . Roosa ' s honors include the NASA Distinguished Service Medal ; the Johnson Space Center Superior Achievement Award ( 1970 ) ; the Air Force Command Pilot Astronaut Wings ; the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal ; the Arnold Air Society ' s John F . Kennedy Award ( 1971 ) ; the City of New York Gold Medal ( 1971 ) ; the American Astronautical Society ' s Flight Achievement Award ( 1971 ) ; the Order of Tehad ( 1973 ) ; and the Order of the Central African Empire ( 1973 ) . Additionally , an elementary school in Claremore , Oklahoma is named in his honor . Roosa earned a PMD from Harvard Business School , Cambridge , Massachusetts , in 1973 and an honorary LL . D . from University of St . Thomas , Houston in 1971 . Death . Stuart Roosa died on December 12 , 1994 in Washington D . C . due to complications from pancreatitis , aged 61 . He was survived by his wife Joan , three sons and a daughter , and 5 grandchildren . He is buried in section 7A of Arlington National Cemetery . His wife Joan died on October 30 , 2007 in Gulfport , MS . She was interred at Arlington Cemetery with her husband . In the 1998 miniseries " From the Earth to the Moon " , Roosa was played by George Newbern . The 2011 book " Smoke Jumper , Moon Pilot " , by Willie G . Moseley is a biography on Roosa ' s life . In 2013 , Roosa ' s granddaughters appeared in USAA insurance television ads in the United States . " Article based on NASA press release 94 - 210 "