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Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the fifth and oldest person to walk on the Moon , at age 47.
Apr 2, 2014 · Alan Shepard became one of the original seven Mercury program astronauts in 1959. He later commanded the Apollo 14 flight.
Nov 21, 2023 · Shepard made his second space flight as spacecraft commander on Apollo 14, January 31 – February 9, 1971. Shepard has logged a total of 216 hours and 57 minutes in space, of which 9 hours and 17 minutes were spent in lunar surface EVA. Shepard has been awarded two NASA Distinguished Service Medals.
Aug 20, 2024 · Shepard headed NASA’s astronaut office from 1963 to 1969 and then from 1971 to 1974, when he retired from the navy as a rear admiral and from the space program to undertake a career in private business in Texas.
U.S. Navy test pilot Alan Shepard joined the astronaut program in 1959. He became the first American and the second man in space on May 5, 1961, when he piloted the Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7 on a 490-kilometer (300-mile), 15-minute suborbital flight.
May 5, 2021 · Shepard, a Navy test pilot and NASA astronaut, became the first American to fly in space. Shepard’s flight was a triumph, not least because it had been conducted live on national television and in front of the world press. It was a notable contrast to the secretive ways of the Communist-led Soviet Union.
May 5, 2021 · On May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard became the first American in space during a suborbital flight aboard his Mercury capsule named Freedom 7. Three weeks later, based on the success of Shepard’s brief flight, President John F. Kennedy committed the United States to achieving a lunar landing before the end of the decade.
May 2, 2016 · Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched aboard a spacecraft named Vostok (Russian for East) and completed an entire orbit of the Earth, landing after a flight of one hour and 29 minutes. Three weeks later, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard flew aboard a Mercury spacecraft he named Freedom 7.
May 3, 2019 · 58 years ago, Alan Shepard was launched into history aboard a Mercury Redstone rocket (originally used by the U.S. Army for missiles), becoming the first American astronaut in space. On May 5, 1961, Shepard rocketed into space inside his Freedom 7 capsule.
Apr 30, 2021 · On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to travel to space. His historic mission in the Freedom 7 spacecraft came a little over three weeks after the Soviet Union successfully made Yuri Gagarin the first person in space.
