1923-1998

American Astronaut

Adistinguished career as a U.S. Navy pilot and officer resulted in Alan Shepard's selection for NASA's first class of astronaut candidates. When he was blasted into space in Mercury 3's Freedom 7 capsule on May 5, 1961, he became the first American in space, launching several decades of intensive NASA space exploration. In 1971, Shepard became the fifth (and oldest, at 47) man to walk on the moon. Before his death from cancer in 1998, his accomplishments as an astronaut were equaled by his success in business.

Alan Shepard. (Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.)

Born in East Derry, New Hampshire, on November 18, 1923, the son of a retired U.S. Army colonel and businessman, Alan Shepard grew up on a farm and went to school in a one-room schoolhouse. His boyhood hero was pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh (1902 - 1974), the first to fly solo across the...