You'll see significant fluctuation anyway, especially for periods of a small number of days where short-term effects (e.g., small flares) can exert more influence on the variance. But the most likely effect is Apollo 14's more direct route through the Van Allen belts. The inclination of the translunar coast orbit is dictated in large part by the desired lunar arrival conditions, which in turn is dictated by the location of the landing site. That doesn't always play nice with the orientation of the Van Allen belts that week.
In books the solar system seems to line up nicely. In reality the solar system is a hodge-podge of objects spinning in odd orbits on planes oddly tilted to one another, all at inharmonic speeds. It fits together a little like a child's first birdhouse. Celestial mechanics is ruthlessly messy, and the messiness falls within the scope of what has to be computed and considered for space flight. The Southern Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly (notated SAA on Mission Control displays, for fans of the NASA Channel) is one example of parts of the solar system that you'd think ought to line up, but don't.
|