Mitchell flew as Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 14 with Alan Shepard and Stuart Roosa. Shepard and Mitchell landed at Fra Mauro, the highlands site originally planned for Apollo 13, and conducted two lunar surface EVAs — open definition. They deployed experiments, collected samples, and attempted a traverse toward Cone Crater, adding important field geology to Apollo's growing scientific record. Mitchell became the sixth person to walk on the Moon.

The experience of seeing Earth from deep space had a lasting effect on Mitchell. After leaving NASA and the Navy, he founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences and spent much of his later life exploring consciousness, human potential, and the philosophical implications of spaceflight. His career remains one of the more unusual combinations of technical discipline, lunar exploration, and post-Apollo inquiry.

Mitchell's background fit the broader pattern of the early astronaut corps: technical training, operational discipline, and a career built around difficult work before spaceflight. His formal education included Carnegie Institute of Technology (B.S. Industrial Management, 1952), United States Naval Postgraduate School (B.S. Aeronautical Engineering, 1961), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sc.D. Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1964). His service background is recorded as Captain, United States Navy. His personal record also sits alongside a family life recorded as three marriages, six children, a reminder that these careers unfolded within ordinary lives as well as national history.

Mitchell's flown space career centered on Apollo 14, where he served as Lunar Module Pilot. Third successful human lunar landing, targeted to the Fra Mauro highlands originally planned for Apollo 13. The crew conducted two lunar EVAs, deployed surface experiments, and returned highland samples from the Moon. The EVA record adds another layer to the mission: About 9 hours, 23 minutes with Alan Shepard across two lunar surface EVAs.