Everything about Alan Shepard totally explained
Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (
November 18,
1923 –
July 21,
1998) (
Rear Admiral, USN, Ret.) was the second person and the first
American in space. He later commanded the
Apollo 14 mission, and was the
fifth person to walk on the moon. He was also one of many famous descendants of
Mayflower passenger
Richard Warren.
Education
Born in
Derry, New Hampshire, Shepard graduated from
Pinkerton Academy in 1941 and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the
United States Naval Academy at
Annapolis in 1944. He graduated from the
United States Naval Test Pilot School in 1951 and the
Naval War College,
Newport, Rhode Island in 1957.
He also received an Honorary Master of Arts degree from
Dartmouth College in 1962, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from
Miami University (
Oxford, Ohio) in 1971, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from
Franklin Pierce College in 1972.
Naval career
Shepard began his
naval career after graduation from Annapolis, on the destroyer
USS Cogswell, deployed in the
Pacific Ocean during
World War II. He subsequently entered flight training at
Corpus Christi, Texas and
Pensacola, Florida, and received his wings in 1947. His next assignment was with Fighter Squadron 42 at
Norfolk, Virginia and
Jacksonville, Florida. He served several tours aboard
aircraft carriers in the
Mediterranean while with this squadron.
In 1950, he attended the
U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at
Patuxent River,
Maryland. After graduation, he participated in flight test work which included high-altitude tests to obtain data on light at different altitudes and on a variety of air masses over the American continent; test and development experiments of the Navy's in-flight refueling system; carrier suitability trials of the
F2H-3 Banshee; and Navy trials of the first angled carrier deck. He was subsequently assigned to Fighter Squadron 193 at
Moffett Field, California, a night fighter unit flying Banshee jets. As operations officer of this squadron, he made two tours to the western Pacific on board the carrier
USS Oriskany.
He returned to Patuxent for a second tour of duty and engaged in flight testing the
F3H Demon,
F8U Crusader,
F4D Skyray, and
F11F Tiger. He was also project test pilot on the
F5D Skylancer, and his last five months at Patuxent were spent as an instructor in the Test Pilot School. He later attended the
Naval War College at
Newport, Rhode Island, and upon graduating in 1957 was subsequently assigned to the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, as aircraft readiness officer.
He logged more than 8,000 hours flying time—3,700 hours in jet aircraft.
Astronaut career
Project Mercury
In 1959, Shepard was one of 110 military test pilots invited by the newly formed
National Aeronautics and Space Administration to volunteer for the
first manned space flight program. Following a gruelling series of tests, Shepard became one of the original group of
seven Mercury astronauts.
In January, 1961 Shepard was chosen for the first American manned mission into space. Although the flight was originally scheduled to take place in October 1960, delays caused by unplanned preparatory work meant that this was postponed several times, initially to
6 March,
1961 and finally to May, 1961.
On
April 12,
1961,
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first man to reach space.
Freedom 7
On
May 5,
1961, Shepard piloted the
Freedom 7 mission and became the second person, and the first
American, to travel into space. He was launched by a
Redstone rocket, and unlike
Gagarin's one-hour orbital flight, Shepard stayed on a ballistic trajectory
suborbital flight—a flight which carried him to an altitude of 116
statute miles and to a landing point 302 statute miles down the
Atlantic Missile Range. Unlike
Gagarin's automatic flight, Shepard had to remain in control of his craft at all times. The flight, return from space and subsequent collection by helicopter were seen live on television by millions.
On his successful return to Earth, Shepard was celebrated as a national
hero, honored with parades in Washington, New York and Los Angeles and meeting
President John F. Kennedy.
Shortly before the launch, Shepard stated "Please, dear God, don't let me fuck up." This has since become known among aviators as "Shepard's Prayer."
According to
Gene Kranz in his book
Failure Is Not an Option:
Later, he was scheduled to pilot the
Mercury-Atlas 10 Freedom 7-II, three day extended duration mission in October 1963. The
MA-10 mission was cancelled on
June 13,
1963. He was the back-up pilot for
Gordon "Gordo" Cooper for the
MA-9 mission.
Project Gemini
After the Mercury-Atlas 10 mission was cancelled in June 1963, Shepard was designated as the command pilot of the first manned Gemini mission.
Thomas Stafford was picked as his co-pilot. But in early 1964, Shepard was diagnosed with
Ménière's disease, a condition in which fluid pressure builds up in the inner ear. This syndrome causes the semicircular canals and motion detectors to become extremely sensitive, resulting in disorientation, dizziness, and nausea. This condition caused him to be removed from flight status for most of the 1960s (
Gus Grissom and
John Young were assigned to
Gemini 3 instead).
Also in 1963, he was designated
Chief of the Astronaut Office with responsibility for monitoring the coordination, scheduling, and control of all activities involving NASA astronauts. This included monitoring the development and implementation of effective training programs to assure the flight readiness of available pilot/non-pilot personnel for assignment to crew positions on manned space flights; furnishing pilot evaluations applicable to the design, construction, and operations of spacecraft systems and related equipment; and providing qualitative scientific and engineering observations to facilitate overall mission planning, formulation of feasible operational procedures, and selection and conduct of specific experiments for each flight.
Apollo Program
Shepard was restored to full flight status in May 1969, following corrective surgery (using a newly developed method) for Ménière's disease. He was originally assigned to command
Apollo 13, but as it was felt he needed more time to train, he and his crewmates (lunar module pilot
Edgar Mitchell and command module pilot
Stuart Roosa) swapped missions with the then crew of Apollo 14 (
James Lovell,
Ken Mattingly and
Fred Haise).
Apollo 14
At age 47, and the oldest astronaut in the program, Shepard made his second space flight as commander of
Apollo 14,
January 31–
February 9,
1971, America's third successful
lunar landing mission. Shepard piloted his Lunar Module Antares to the most accurate landing of the entire Apollo program. This was the first mission to broadcast color television pictures from the surface of the Moon, using the
vidicon tube. While on the Moon, Shepard played
golf with a Wilson six-iron head attached to a lunar sample scoop handle
(External Link
). Despite thick gloves and a stiff spacesuit which forced him to swing the club with one hand only, Shepard struck two golf balls, driving the second, as he jokingly put it, "miles and miles and miles."
Following Apollo 14, Shepard returned to his position as Chief of the Astronaut Office in June, 1971. He was promoted to
Rear Admiral before finally retiring both from the Navy and NASA on
1 August,
1974.
Awards and honors
During his life he was awarded the
Congressional Space Medal of Honor; two
NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the
NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal,
Naval Astronaut Wings, the
Navy Distinguished Service Medal, and the
Distinguished Flying Cross; recipient of the
Langley Award (highest award of the
Smithsonian Institution) on
May 5,
1964, the
Lambert Trophy, the
Iven C. Kincheloe Award, the
Cabot Award, the
Collier Trophy, and the
City of New York Gold Medal for 1971.
Shepard was appointed by
President Nixon in July 1971 as a delegate to the 26th
United Nations General Assembly, and served through the entire assembly session from September to December 1971.
The Navy named a supply ship,
Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3), for him in 2006. A
geodesic dome was built in his honor in
Virginia Beach, Virginia but demolished in 1994
(External Link).
A model of the Redstone missile which was used to launch Shepard aboard Freedom 7 into space, is still on display in the
Warren, New Hampshire town square.
Interstate 93 in New Hampshire, from the
Massachusetts border to its intersection with
Route 101 in
Manchester, is named in his honor. It passes through his native Derry.
Interstate 565 in northern
Alabama connecting
Decatur, Alabama and
Huntsville, Alabama is officially the "Admiral Alan B. Shepard Highway."
Derry almost changed its name to "Spacetown", considering it in honor of his career as an astronaut. Following an Act of Congress, the Post Office in Derry is designated the 'Alan B. Shepard, Jr. Post Office Building'.
His high school alma mater in Derry,
Pinkerton Academy, has a building named after him, and the school team name is the Astros after his career as an astronaut.
Alan B. Shepard High School, in
Palos Heights, Illinois, which opened in 1976, was named in his honor. Framed newspapers throughout the school depict various accomplishments and milestones in Shepard's life. Additionally, an autographed plaque commemorates the dedication of the building.
Other schools which honor his memory include Alan B. Shepard Middle School, Deerfield, Illinois; Alan B. Shepard Middle School, San Antonio, Texas; Alan B. Shepard Elementary School, Bourbonnais, Illinois, Alan B. Shepard Elementary School,
Old Bridge, New Jersey and, formerly, Alan B. Shepard Elementary School in Highland Park, Illinois (closed).
Later years
Always a shrewd businessman, Shepard was the first astronaut to become a millionaire while still in the program. After he left the program, he served on the boards of many corporations under the auspices of his Seven-Fourteen Enterprises (named for his two flights, Freedom 7 and Apollo 14).
In 1994, he published a book with two journalists,
Jay Barbree and Howard Benedict, called
Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Fellow Mercury astronaut
Deke Slayton is also named as an author, but he died before the project was completed and was an author in name only. The book generated some controversy for use of a deliberately faked photo showing Shepard hitting a golf ball on the moon (the only other usable photo was a grainy TV videotape), a photo which Barbree re-used in a 2007 memoir. The book was also turned into a
TV miniseries in 1994.
Shepard died of
leukemia near his home in
Pebble Beach, California on
July 21,
1998, two years after being diagnosed with that disease. His wife of 53 years, the former Louise Brewer, died five weeks afterward. Both were cremated, and their ashes were committed to the sea.
They had three daughters, Laura (born in 1947), Juliana (born in 1951) and Alice (born in 1951). He also had six grandchildren. Laura had a daughter, Lark and son, Bart. Juliana had a daughter, Ethney and son, Shepard. Alice had a son, Reid, and a daughter, Heather.
Media
Further Information
Get more info on 'Alan Shepard'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://alan_shepard.totallyexplained.com">Alan Shepard Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
