Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (Derry, November 18, 1923 - Pebble Beach, July 21, 1998) was an American naval aviator, test pilot, astronaut and executive. He became the first American to reach space in 1961 on the Mercury-Redstone 3 mission and was then the fifth person to set foot on the surface of the Moon during Apollo 14 in 1971.
Shepard graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1944 and fought in World War II in the Pacific Theater. He then became a naval aviator in 1946 and a test pilot in 1950. He was selected in 1959 as one of NASA's original Group 1 astronauts and made his first flight in May 1961 on the first manned Project Mercury mission aboard a spacecraft he named Freedom 7. Shepard arrived in space, but did not enter orbit. He was the second human to reach space after the Soviet Yuri Gagarin and the first to manually control his spacecraft. He was supposed to fly on Mercury-Atlas 10 for a three-day orbital flight, but the mission was canceled in favor of Project Gemini.
Shepard was cast as the commander of the first manned Gemini mission, but was removed from the post in 1963 after being diagnosed with Meniere's disease. This problem was resolved through surgery in 1969 and he was placed in command of Apollo 14, going to the Moon in February 1971 and carrying out the most precise landing of the entire Apollo Program. Between November 1963 and July 1969, and then from June 1971 until his retirement from the Navy and NASA in July 1974, he served as Chief of the Astronaut Office. After retiring he served as an executive for several companies and made a fortune in real estate and banking. Shepard died in 1998 from complications related to leukemia.
14 июн 2024
