Who is alan shepard

He also chaired the Mercury 7 Foundation, which offered college scholarships to those interested in science and engineering. Shepard died in California in , after a long battle with leukemia.

He was survived by his wife, Louise, their three daughters, and several grandchildren. At the time of his passing, fellow astronaut John Glenn spoke about Shepard with The New York Times : "He was a patriot, he was a leader, he was a competitor, a fierce competitor. He was a hero. Most importantly to us, he was a close friend. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin was one of the first people to walk on the moon. He and flight commander Neil Armstrong made the Apollo 11 moonwalk in He then attended the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island, and upon graduating in , was assigned to the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, as aircraft readiness officer. In his military career, he logged more than 8, hours flying time including 3, hours in jet aircraft.

On May 5, , he became the first American to journey into space when his Freedom 7 capsule was launched by a Redstone vehicle on a suborbital flight to an altitude of statute miles. He landed miles down the Atlantic Missile Range after reaching speeds of 5, miles per hour during his fifteen-minute flight. He had demonstrated control of a vehicle during weightlessness and high G stresses.

Recovery operations were perfect; there was no damage to the spacecraft, and astronaut Shepard was in excellent condition. As designated Chief of the Astronaut Office, he was responsible for monitoring the coordination, scheduling, and control of all activities involving NASA astronauts until Roosa, Command Module pilot, and Edgar D.

Shepard worked on the ground for subsequent flights in the Mercury program and was scheduled to pilot the Mercury 10 mission. But after successfully putting an astronaut in orbit for a full day in with Faith 7 piloted by Gordon Cooper , NASA decided to close the first manned space program and move on with Gemini, the next step on the journey toward the moon. Astronauts in Gemini practiced docking spacecraft in orbit and performing spacewalks, two skills that would be required for moon landings.

However, he woke one morning dizzy and nauseated, and found himself falling constantly. Fluid in his inner ear had built up, increasing the sensitivity of the semicircular canals and causing vertigo. Shepard was grounded in , forbidden from solo flights in jet planes and from traveling in space. He oversaw the activities, training and schedules of the astronauts, and assisted with mission planning. In , Shepard underwent an operation that resolved his disease and allowed him to regain full flight status.

Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Ed Mitchell were initially scheduled to fly on Apollo 13 , but they were pushed back a mission to give everyone extra training, especially Shepard.

Shepard was subsequently named commander for the Apollo 14 mission to the moon. This meant that when the Apollo 13 spacecraft was badly crippled by an explosion during its voyage and had to make an emergency return to Earth, Shepard was not on board.

His crew also benefited from safety improvements to the spacecraft following the Apollo 13 flight, such as changes to the electrical wiring. Shepard blasted back into space from Cape Canaveral on Jan. He and Mitchell landed in the Fra Mauro highlands on the lunar surface on Feb. At age 47, Shepard was the oldest astronaut in the space program at the time. An operation healed his ear problem, and on Jan. Shepard and Mitchell made two surface excursions totaling nine hours.

He served later on the boards of several companies and was president of Seven Fourteen Enterprises Inc. He also was a founder and president of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which raises scholarship money for college science and engineering students.