Celebrating 50 Years Of American Space Flight

Celebrating 50 Years Of American Space Flight.
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Alan Shepard first american in space may 5th 1961

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50 years ago — on May 5, 1961 — Shepard became the first American to reach space at a time of heightened Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union.
He later became one of only a dozen men to walk on the moon, where he hit a golf shot that became perhaps the most memorable moment of the Apollo 14 mission he commanded.




Alan Shepard
AKA Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr.

Born: 18-Nov-1923
Birthplace: East Derry, NH
Died: 21-Jul-1998
Location of death: Monterey, CA
Cause of death: Cancer - Leukemia
Remains: Cremated, (ashes scattered at sea)

Gender: Male
Religion: Christian Science
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Astronaut

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: First American in space

Military service: US Navy (WWII, Pacific theater)

Original Mercury astronaut named in 1959, the first American in space during a suborbital flight reaching 116 miles altitude on 5th May 1961. Meniere's disease (an inner ear condition) grounded him until an operation in 1969 fixed the problem. He commanded Apollo 14, from 31st January to 9th February 1971, the third lunar mission. During that time he became the first and only man to golf on the moon. He died in 1998 two years after diagnosis with leukemia.

Father: Alan Bartlett Shepard Sr. (US Army colonel)
Mother: Renza Emerson Shepard
Wife: Louise Brewer (m. 3-Mar-1945, until his death, d. 25-Aug-1998, two daughters)
Daughter: Laura (b. 1947)
Daughter: Juliana (b. 1951)

Shepard died in 1998. On Wednesday, the U.S. Postal Service will unveil a stamp honoring the Mercury program and Shepard's historic launch in a ceremony at the Rocket Garden of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

Fellow Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter and members of Shepard's family will join Bolden at the unveiling and at a 50th anniversary ceremony Thursday at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

In a ceremony April 28 at the Naval Academy, where Shepard graduated in 1944, NASA honored him with an Ambassador of Exploration Award. Shepard's family gave the award — a moon rock mounted for public display — to the Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Md.

Shepard's 15-minute flight as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts didn't reach orbit, as Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had done three weeks earlier and as Glenn did nine months later.

SOURCE
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First American in space started career on water
Alan Shepard Biography
First American in Space
NASA Celebrating 50 Years Of American Space Flight

you bunch of big girls! i got an idea, lets decapitalise space exploration and see how far we get without you nut jobs holding the world back!!!!

reply to post by sema sema


this is for you
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for your highly intelligent and constructive post,your a asset to mankind.

I remember my first beer.

But seriously, I also remember our first man in space, just short of my 3rd birthday. It was all the rage in those days. Life was simpler, a new car cost under $3,000, our house cost $12,000, and dad had a simple job with 5 kids while mom stayed home to raise us.

Thank you OP. Nice thread and tribute to a True American Hero.

These brave and courageous pioneers paved the way for the modern space program as we know it. My ONLY criticism is I think you were too gentle on sema sema. I'd have called him something far worse but you got the first three letters right.

Great source material and hours of interesting reading.

Thank you for this! S&F

reply to post by TheMaverick


my pleasure mate! just to let you know i love you all! just get a life will you and pull your head out your arse, thinking your all the rage when your just a bunch of muppets with a ego as big as your intelect witch isnt much is it really!

aha have fun first man on the moon....lmao why dont you all # off to the moon??? the world would be a better place for it

reply to post by sema sema

your just a bunch of muppets with a ego as big as your intelect witch isnt much is it really!

Ok before you insult american intellect.....which you clearly don't have,you need to brush up on your grammer.

and to be blunt with you.
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