Alan Shepard
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on the 4th of October 1957, triggering intense anxiety across America. President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by establishing NASA on the 1st of October 1958. One of its first initiatives was Project Mercury, publicly announced on the 17th of December 1958. This program aimed to launch a man into Earth orbit and return him safely. NASA received permission to recruit test pilots from military ranks. Out of 508 graduates, only 110 met minimum standards including height limits under five feet ten inches.
A group of 35 candidates assembled at the Pentagon on the 2nd of February 1959. They included Shepard alongside future astronauts like Jim Lovell, Pete Conrad, and Wally Schirra. The Navy and Air Force chiefs pledged support for their careers despite the hazardous nature of spaceflight. After grueling physical and psychological tests at the Lovelace Clinic, seven men were selected. Shepard learned of his selection on the 1st of April 1959. He broke the news to his family two days later during a cousin's wedding in Boston. The identities of the seven astronauts were officially announced at Dolley Madison House in Washington, D.C., on the 9th of April 1959. That same month, they watched an Atlas rocket explode minutes after liftoff at Cape Canaveral.
Shepard quit smoking and adopted John Glenn's morning jogging routine to prepare for competition. On the 19th of January 1961, Robert R. Gilruth informed him he would lead America's first crewed mission into space. His wife Louise reportedly asked who let a Russian in when she heard the news. The flight was originally scheduled for the 26th of April 1960 but faced multiple postponements due to technical delays. It finally launched on the 5th of May 1961 aboard a Redstone rocket.
Shepard named his spacecraft Freedom 7 and awoke at 01:10 that morning. He ate orange juice, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, and scrambled eggs with backup pilot John Glenn. Suit technician Joseph W. Schmitt helped him into his space suit before he boarded the transfer van at 03:55. Launch delays kept him inside the capsule for over four hours without bathroom facilities. He eventually voided his bladder into the suit, which pooled in his lower back until absorbed by undergarments. Medical sensors tracking his condition were turned off to prevent short circuits. The suborbital flight lasted fifteen minutes and reached an altitude of fifty miles before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.
In late 1963, Shepard began experiencing episodes of extreme dizziness accompanied by loud clanging noises in his left ear. He tried keeping the symptoms secret fearing loss of flight status. An episode during a lecture in Houston forced him to confess to Deke Slayton, now Director of Flight Operations. Doctors diagnosed Ménière's disease, causing fluid pressure buildup in the inner ear leading to disorientation and nausea. No cure existed at the time though about twenty percent of cases resolved spontaneously.
Surgeons removed twenty percent of his thyroid gland on the 17th of January 1964 due to a lump found via X-ray. This procedure did not resolve his vestibular issues so he was removed from flight status permanently. Grissom and John Young flew Gemini 3 instead. In 1968, Stafford visited Shepard's office with news that William F. House had developed a surgical cure for Ménière's disease. House proposed inserting a tiny tube into Shepard's endolymphatic sac to drain excess fluid. The surgery took place on the 14th of May 1968 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Los Angeles under the pseudonym Victor Poulos. It succeeded completely restoring full flight status by the 7th of May 1969.
Deke Slayton assigned Shepard command of Apollo 14 after its predecessor mission failed catastrophically. An oxygen tank explosion during Apollo 13 aborted the lunar landing attempt nearly costing the crew their lives. Modifications delayed Apollo 14 until early 1971 when it targeted Fra Mauro formation originally intended for Apollo 13. Shepard piloted the Lunar Module Antares alongside Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa.
The mission launched from January 31 to the 9th of February 1971 making it America's third successful lunar landing. At age forty-seven, Shepard became the oldest person to walk on the Moon among all Mercury Seven astronauts. He used a Wilson six-iron head attached to a sample scoop handle to hit two golf balls on the surface. Despite thick gloves forcing one-handed swings, he drove the second ball miles according to his own joke. High-resolution film scans later determined distances of about three hundred meters and four hundred meters respectively. The mission broadcast extensive color television coverage using Westinghouse cameras before accidentally pointing at the Sun ending transmission quality.
Shepard returned as Chief of the Astronaut Office in June 1971 following Apollo 14. President Richard Nixon appointed him delegate to the twenty-sixth United Nations General Assembly serving from September through December that year. On the 26th of August 1971, Nixon promoted him to rear admiral becoming the first astronaut to reach that rank. He retired from both NASA and the Navy on the 31st of July 1974 after nearly fifteen years of service.
Post-retirement life involved banking investments and real estate ventures including ownership of Baytown National Bank. He founded Seven Fourteen Enterprises Inc named for Freedom 7 and Apollo 14 missions. Shepard also established the Mercury Seven Foundation with other surviving astronauts raising scholarships for science students. In 1984 he co-authored Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon with journalists Jay Barbree and Howard Benedict. Fellow astronaut Deke Slayton appeared as a co-author on this publication which included composite photographs showing his lunar golf shots despite no still images existing.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia diagnosed in 1996 led to Shepard's death on the 21st of July 1998 in Pebble Beach, California. President Bill Clinton issued condolences stating Shepard led humanity beyond planetary bounds into new frontiers. His widow Louise died days later on August 25 at exactly 17:00 when their daily phone calls had always occurred. Their ashes were scattered together from a Navy helicopter over Stillwater Cove near their home.
Numerous memorials honor his contributions including the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord New Hampshire. Interstate highways bear his name across multiple states while schools adopt his legacy through names like Alan B. Shepard High School. Blue Origin named its suborbital rocket New Shepard after him. A first-class stamp depicting him was issued by the U.S. Postal Service on the 4th of May 2011. His daughter Laura Churchley flew suborbitally aboard NS-19 mission twenty-three years after his passing. Popular culture references include films The Right Stuff and Hidden Figures plus video game character Commander Shepard from Mass Effect series.
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Common questions
When was Alan Shepard born and where did he grow up?
Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. was born on the 18th of November 1923 at 64 East Derry Road in Derry, New Hampshire.
What date did Alan Shepard launch his first space mission?
Alan Shepard launched aboard a Redstone rocket on the 5th of May 1961 for America's first crewed suborbital flight.
How did Alan Shepard recover from Ménière's disease to return to spaceflight?
Surgeons performed an operation on the 14th of May 1968 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Los Angeles that successfully restored full flight status by the 7th of May 1969.
Which lunar mission commanded Alan Shepard and when did it occur?
Alan Shepard commanded Apollo 14 which launched from January 31 to the 9th of February 1971 making it America's third successful lunar landing.
On what date did Alan Shepard die and what caused his death?
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia diagnosed in 1996 led to Alan Shepard's death on the 21st of July 1998 in Pebble Beach, California.