Biography of Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. America's First Man in Space

In 1944 after graduation from the United States Naval Academy, Shepard began his career in the Navy aboard the USS Cogswell. Before long he made his way to flight school and earned his wings in 1947. Shepard then joined the naval elite when he graduated from the prestigious US Naval Test Pilot School in 1951 where he would later teach before joining the astronaut core.

After enduring one of the most rigorous testing programs known to man it was announced on April 9, 1959 that Alan B. Shepard and six others would become America's first astronauts. This group of seven highly qualified individuals became collectively known as The Mercury Seven.

As each of The Mercury Seven battled to be the first American in space it was Shepard who earned the position. On May 5, 1961 Astronaut Alan B. Shepard became the first American in space after flying his Freedom 7 spacecraft on a fifteen minute suborbital flight 116 miles above the Earth. Although the honor of first human in space went to Yuri Gagarin just a mere 23 days earlier Shepard became an instant American hero.

His flight help build the confidence that inspired the speech where John F. Kennedy famously proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..."

Much to Shepard's dismay he was removed from active flight status in 1964 due to a condition known as Ménière's Disease which affects the inner ear and causes symptoms similar to those of vertigo. The diagnosis cost the astronaut the command position on Gemini 3 which was slated to be the first manned Gemini mission.

Thanks to a new procedure which corrected Alan Shepard's inner ear issue he was returned to active flight status in 1969 and immediately he was slated to be the commander of Apollo 13. NASA officials realized that Shepard would not have enough time to prepare for the mission and it was determined that the Apollo 14 team would switch positions with Shepard's crew.

On January 31, 1971 Apollo 14 blasted off from Cape Canaveral and began its voyage to the moon. Shepard piloted the lunar module dubbed Antares down to the surface of the moon in what is considered to be a very precise landing. Astronauts Alan B. Shepard and Edgar D. Mitchell spent 33 hours on the moon collecting soil samples and performing various scientific experiments.

One of Shepard's most notorious moments on the moon was when the golf enthusiast used a lunar sampling tool that was modified to be a 6 iron to drive a few balls off of the surface. He's quoted as saying they went for "miles and miles and miles."

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. retired from the Navy as a Rear Admiral and from NASA on August 1, 1974. During his retirement he was a successful business man.

Death: July 21, 1998