Roosa flew as Command Module Pilot on Apollo 14 with Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell. While Shepard and Mitchell explored Fra Mauro on the surface, Roosa orbited the Moon aboard Kitty Hawk, operating the command module and supporting the landing crew's return. His work was part of the mission that restored Apollo's lunar landing momentum after Apollo 13.

Roosa also carried hundreds of tree seeds around the Moon as part of a joint project with the Forest Service. After returning to Earth, many were germinated and planted as "Moon Trees" across the United States and elsewhere. That unusual legacy connected Roosa's early life as a smokejumper with his later role as a lunar astronaut. He left NASA in 1976 after Apollo-era assignments.

Roosa'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 University of Colorado Boulder (B.S. Aeronautical Engineering, 1960). His service background is recorded as Colonel, United States Air Force. His personal record also sits alongside a family life recorded as married, four children, a reminder that these careers unfolded within ordinary lives as well as national history.

Roosa's flown space career centered on Apollo 14, where he served as Command Module Pilot. Third successful human lunar landing, targeted to the Fra Mauro highlands originally planned for Apollo 13. The crew conducted two lunar EVAs — open definition, deployed surface experiments, and returned highland samples from the Moon.