Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN | Academy of Achievement

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Shepard, Jr., USN | Academy of Achievement</title> <meta name="description" content="Until 1961, space travel was only the fantasy of science fiction writers. In that year, fantasy became reality as the United States and the Soviet Union both launched men into space. On May 5 of that year, a Redstone rocket launched America's first astronaut, Alan Shepard, beyond the earth's atmosphere, into space. Shepard's mission made him a national hero and put to rest any fears that the United States would be left behind in the space race. Shepard, a former Navy test pilot, returned to space ten years later as commander of Apollo XIV, which he led successfully to the moon and back. When America's space program began in a blaze of publicity, the names of the first seven astronauts were known to almost every American. Today, many Americans take the missions of the Space Shuttle for granted, and few of our astronauts become household names. But of all the brave men and women who have led our country into the Space Age, one name still stands alone: that of Alan Shepard, the first American in space."/> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN | Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">Until 1961, space travel was only the fantasy of science fiction writers. In that year, fantasy became reality as the United States and the Soviet Union both launched men into space. On May 5 of that year, a Redstone rocket launched America's first astronaut, Alan Shepard, beyond the earth's atmosphere, into space.</p> <p class="inputText">Shepard's mission made him a national hero and put to rest any fears that the United States would be left behind in the space race. Shepard, a former Navy test pilot, returned to space ten years later as commander of Apollo XIV, which he led successfully to the moon and back.</p> <p class="inputText">When America's space program began in a blaze of publicity, the names of the first seven astronauts were known to almost every American. Today, many Americans take the missions of the Space Shuttle for granted, and few of our astronauts become household names. But of all the brave men and women who have led our country into the Space Age, one name still stands alone: that of Alan Shepard, the first American in space.</p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2019-08-09T15:02:33+00:00"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/shepard-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@achievers1961"/> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@achievers1961"/> <meta name="twitter:label1" content="Written by"> <meta name="twitter:data1" content="Hugh Esten"> <script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/#organization","name":"Academy of Achievement","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/","sameAs":["https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-academy-of-achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChe_87uh1H-NIMf3ndTjPFw","https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://twitter.com/achievers1961"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/12.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Academy of Achievement"},"image":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/#website","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/","name":"Academy of Achievement","description":"A museum of living history","publisher":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/search/{search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/shepard-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg","width":2800,"height":1120},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/#webpage","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/","name":"Admiral Alan B. 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role="document"> <div class="content"> <main class="main"> <div class="feature-area__container"> <header class="feature-area feature-area--has-image ratio-container ratio-container--feature"> <figure class="feature-box"> <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image feature-area__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/shepard-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg [(max-width:544px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/shepard-Feature-Image-2800x1120-1400x560.jpg [(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/shepard-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">First American in Space</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-3148 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-astronaut"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">I think first of all you have to be there for the right reason. You have to be there not for fame and glory and recognition and being a page in a history book, but you have to be there because you believe your talent and ability can be applied effectively.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">Pioneer of the Space Age</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> November 18, 1923 </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Death</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> July 21, 1998 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_30288" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30288" style="width: 321px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="wp-image-30288 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Alan_Shepard_as_a_student_aviator.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30288 size-full lazyload" alt="alan_shepard_as_a_student_aviator" width="321" height="420" data-sizes="(max-width: 321px) 100vw, 321px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Alan_Shepard_as_a_student_aviator.jpg 321w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Alan_Shepard_as_a_student_aviator-290x380.jpg 290w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Alan_Shepard_as_a_student_aviator.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30288" class="wp-caption-text">1946: Shepard began basic flight training school at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas.</figcaption></figure> <p>Alan B. Shepard, Jr. was born and raised in East Derry, New Hampshire. His father was a retired Army officer. Alan grew up on the family farm and attended East Derry’s one-room schoolhouse. As a boy he did odd jobs at the local airfield to learn about airplanes. An excellent student, Shepard won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. After graduation, Ensign Shepard served on the destroyer <em>Cogswell</em> during the closing months of World War II. At war’s end, he married Louise Brewer, whom he had met while attending the Naval Academy. Shepard was so eager to receive his wings and pilot’s license that he studied at a civilian flying school in his spare time while attending naval flight training at Corpus Christi, Texas and Pensacola, Florida. After receiving his wings, he served with the 42nd Fighter Squadron for several tours of duty aboard aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean.</p> <figure id="attachment_30267" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30267" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30267 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-18853_0.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-30267 lazyload" alt="On April 9, 1959, NASA's first administrator, Dr. Keith Glennan, announced the names of the agency's first group of astronauts at a news conference in Washington, D.C. Now known as the "Original Seven," they included three Naval aviators, M. Scott Carpenter, Walter M. Schirra Jr., and Alan B. Shepard Jr.; three Air Force pilots, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom, and Donald K. (Deke) Slayton; along with Marine Corps aviator John H. Glenn Jr. This group photo of the original Mercury astronauts was taken in June 1963 at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas. The astronauts are, left to right: Cooper, Schirra, Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Slayton and Carpenter. Project Mercury became NASA's first major undertaking. The objectives of the program were to place a human-rated spacecraft into orbit around Earth, observe the astronauts' performance in such conditions and safely recover the astronaut and the spacecraft. The Mercury flights proved that humans could live and work in space, and paved the way for the Gemini and Apollo programs as well as for all further human spaceflight. (NASA)" width="2280" height="1769" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-18853_0.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-18853_0-380x295.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-18853_0-760x590.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-18853_0.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30267" class="wp-caption-text">On April 9, 1959, NASA’s first administrator, Dr. Keith Glennan, announced the names of the agency’s first group of astronauts at a news conference in Washington, D.C. Now known as the “Original Seven,” they included three Naval aviators, M. Scott Carpenter, Walter M. Schirra Jr., and Alan B. Shepard Jr.; three Air Force pilots, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom, and Donald K. (Deke) Slayton; along with Marine Corps aviator John H. Glenn Jr. This group photo of the original Mercury astronauts was taken in June 1963 at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas. The astronauts are, left to right: Cooper, Schirra, Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Slayton and Carpenter. Project Mercury became NASA’s first major undertaking. The objectives of the program were to place a human-rated spacecraft into orbit around the Earth, and observe the astronauts’ performance in such conditions and safely recover the astronaut and the spacecraft. The Mercury flights proved that humans could live and work in space, and paved the way for the Gemini and Apollo spaceflight programs.</figcaption></figure> <p>In 1950, Shepard entered the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School in Patuxent, Maryland. After qualifying as a test pilot, he tested high-altitude aircraft and in-flight fueling systems, and made some of the first landings on angled carrier decks. He served as operations officer of the 193rd Fighter Squadron on two tours of the Western Pacific, and as an instructor at the Navy Test Pilot School. After graduation from the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island in 1958, Alan Shepard became aircraft readiness officer on the staff of the Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet.</p> <figure id="attachment_30256" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30256" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30256 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s62-08774.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-30256 lazyload" alt="On April 9, 1959, NASA introduced its first astronaut class, the Mercury 7. Front row, left to right: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. (NASA)" width="2280" height="2850" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s62-08774.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s62-08774-304x380.jpg 304w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s62-08774-608x760.jpg 608w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s62-08774.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30256" class="wp-caption-text">1959: NASA’s first astronaut class, the Mercury 7: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. “Deke” Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter; (back) Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. (NASA)</figcaption></figure> <p>In 1959, the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) invited 110 top test pilots to volunteer for the manned space flight program. Of the original 110, Shepard was among the seven chosen for Project Mercury and presented to the public at a press conference on April 8, 1959. The other six were Malcolm (Scott) Carpenter, Leroy Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil (Gus) Grissom, Walter (Wally) Schirra and Donald (Deke) Slayton.</p> <figure id="attachment_30270" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30270" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-30270 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6414825.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30270 size-full lazyload" alt="Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. lifts off in the Freedom 7 Mercury spacecraft on May 5, 1961. This third flight of the Mercury-Redstone (MR-3) vehicle, developed by Dr. Wernher von Braun and the rocket team in Huntsille, Alabama, was the first manned space mission for the United States. During the 15-minute suborbital flight, Shepard reached an altitude of 115 miles and traveled 302 miles downrange. (NASA)" width="2280" height="2653" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6414825.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6414825-327x380.jpg 327w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6414825-653x760.jpg 653w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6414825.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30270" class="wp-caption-text">Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. lifts off in the Freedom 7 Mercury spacecraft on May 5, 1961. This third flight of the Mercury-Redstone (MR-3) vehicle, developed by Dr. Wernher von Braun and the rocket team in Hunsville, Alabama, was the first manned space mission for the United States. During the 15-minute suborbital flight — which attained a maximum speed of 5,180 mph — Shepard reached an altitude of 116 miles and traveled 302 miles downrange.</figcaption></figure> <p>These seven were subjected to an unprecedented and grueling training in the sciences and in physical endurance. Every conceivable situation the men would encounter in space travel was studied and, when possible, simulated with training devices. Of the seven Mercury astronauts, Shepard was chosen for the first American manned mission into space. On April 15, 1961, only a few weeks before Shepard’s flight, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to reach outer space. Gagarin’s flight took him into orbit around the earth.</p> <figure id="attachment_30284" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30284" style="width: 999px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-30284 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/maxresdefault.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30284 size-full lazyload" alt="maxresdefault" width="999" height="865" data-sizes="(max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/maxresdefault.jpg 999w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/maxresdefault-380x329.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/maxresdefault-760x658.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/maxresdefault.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30284" class="wp-caption-text">May 8, 1961: Alan Shepard — the first U.S. astronaut to make a space flight — and his wife, Louise, meet President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House. President John Kennedy later presented Shepard with the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in a ceremony at the White House.</figcaption></figure> <p>Shepard’s flight, on May 5, was still a history-making event. Whereas Gagarin had been only a passenger in his vehicle, Shepard was able to maneuver the Freedom 7 space capsule himself. While the Soviet mission was veiled in secrecy, Shepard’s flight, return from space, splashdown at sea, and recovery by helicopter to a waiting aircraft carrier were seen on live television by millions around the world. On his return, Shepard was honored with parades in Washington, New York and Los Angeles.</p> <figure id="attachment_30239" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30239" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30239 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776608.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-30239 lazyload" alt="Astronaut Alan Shepard, the United States's first spaceman, waves to crowds lining 15th Street as he sits with his wife Louise in an open car during a parade from the White House to the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on May 8, 1961. Other U.S. astronauts follow in the parade. (AP Photo)" width="2280" height="1506" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776608.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776608-380x251.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776608-760x502.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776608.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30239" class="wp-caption-text">May 8, 1961: Alan Shepard, the United States’s first spaceman, waves to crowds lining 15th Street as he sits with wife Louise in an open car during a parade from the White House to the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.</figcaption></figure> <p>In the subsequent Mercury missions of Virgil Grissom and John Glenn, the U.S. space program would quickly meet and then surpass the achievements of the Soviet one. Shepard himself moved on to the next stage of the space program: Project Gemini.</p> <figure id="attachment_30243" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30243" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30243 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-19764.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-30243 lazyload" alt="September 18, 1970: Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. (right), commander, and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot, are suited up for a manned altitude run in the Apollo 14 lunar module (LM). The manned run in a vacuum chamber of the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building was conducted to validate the LM's communications and guidance and navigation systems. (NASA)" width="2280" height="2280" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-19764.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-19764-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-19764-380x380.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-19764-760x760.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-19764.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30243" class="wp-caption-text">September 18, 1970: Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., commander, and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot, are suited up for a manned altitude run in the Apollo 14 lunar module (LM). The manned run in a vacuum chamber of the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building was conducted to validate the LM’s guidance and navigation systems.</figcaption></figure> <p>Shepard was scheduled to command the first Gemini mission when he was diagnosed with an inner ear disturbance affecting his equilibrium. This disturbance kept him out of space for the next six years. He remained with NASA as chief of the astronaut office, but could only sit and watch as younger astronauts of Project Apollo prepared for travel to the moon. Tragedy struck the space program when a launch pad fire destroyed Apollo I, taking the lives of three astronauts, including Shepard’s Project Mercury comrade, Gus Grissom.</p> <figure id="attachment_30246" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30246" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-30246 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6-as14-66-9231b.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30246 size-full lazyload" alt="Alan Shepard plants the American flag on the moon." width="2280" height="1790" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6-as14-66-9231b.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6-as14-66-9231b-380x298.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6-as14-66-9231b-760x597.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6-as14-66-9231b.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30246" class="wp-caption-text">February 5, 1971: Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., commander of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission, stands by the U.S. flag on the lunar surface during the early moments of the first extravehicular activity of the mission. While Shepard and astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell, the lunar module-pilot, were exploring the Moon, astronaut Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, was maneuvering the Command Service Module in lunar orbit. (NASA Photo)</figcaption></figure> <p>By 1968, an operation had restored Shepard’s equilibrium and he volunteered for a lunar mission, but Shepard remained earthbound, while Apollo XI and XII successfully landed men on the moon. Apollo XIII, which Shepard had hoped to lead himself, was forced to turn back in mid-course. In 1971, 47-year-old Alan Shepard, the oldest astronaut in the program, was finally tapped to lead the Apollo XIV mission to the moon.</p> <figure id="attachment_30236" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30236" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-30236 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-18753.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30236 size-full lazyload" alt="The Apollo 14 command module with astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart A. Roosa and Edgar Mitchell aboard approaches touchdown in the South Pacific Ocean, bringing to successful end a 10-day lunar landing mission. The splashdown occurred at 3:04 CST, February 9, 1971, approximately 765 nautical miles south of American Samoa. The crew was flown by helicopter to the U.S.S. New Orleans prime recovery ship. (NASA)" width="2280" height="2280" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-18753.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-18753-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-18753-380x380.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-18753-760x760.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-18753.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30236" class="wp-caption-text">February 9, 1971: The Apollo 14 command module with astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart A. Roosa and Edgar Mitchell aboard approaches touchdown in the South Pacific Ocean, bringing to successful end a 10-day lunar landing mission. The splashdown occurred at 3:04 CST, approximately 765 nautical miles south of American Samoa. The Apolla 14 crew was flown by helicopter to the U.S.S. New Orleans prime recovery ship. (NASA)</figcaption></figure> <p>Millions watched the live color broadcast of the mission, and few who saw it will ever forget the sight of Shepard and Edgar Mitchell bouncing around in the low-gravity environment, or of Shepard batting golf balls into the lunar distance before boarding the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) to return to the craft orbiting above. Once again, Shepard returned from space to a hero’s welcome. He was promoted to Admiral before finally retiring from the Navy and from NASA.</p> </body></html> <div class="clearfix"> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 1981 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.astronaut">Astronaut</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> November 18, 1923 </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Death</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> July 21, 1998 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="inputTextFirst">Until 1961, space travel was only the fantasy of science fiction writers. In that year, fantasy became reality as the United States and the Soviet Union both launched men into space. On May 5 of that year, a Redstone rocket launched America’s first astronaut, Alan Shepard, beyond the earth’s atmosphere, into space.</p> <p class="inputText">Shepard’s mission made him a national hero and put to rest any fears that the United States would be left behind in the space race. Shepard, a former Navy test pilot, returned to space ten years later as commander of Apollo XIV, which he led successfully to the moon and back.</p> <p class="inputText">When America’s space program began in a blaze of publicity, the names of the first seven astronauts were known to almost every American. Today, many Americans take the missions of the Space Shuttle for granted, and few of our astronauts become household names. But of all the brave men and women who have led our country into the Space Age, one name still stands alone: that of Alan Shepard, the first American in space.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/G3tFb543lsg?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_25_02_02.Still008-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_25_02_02.Still008-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">Pioneer of the Space Age</h2> <div class="sans-2">Houston, Texas</div> <div class="sans-2">February 1, 1991</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Admiral Shepard, the expression “The Right Stuff” has become part of our vocabulary. Maybe you and the others in the program have come to hate it, but what is the right stuff? What does it take to be an astronaut, to do what you’ve done?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZdqYASBy_30?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_49_10_28.Still004-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_49_10_28.Still004-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/integrity/">Integrity</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Alan Shepard: I think first of all you have to be there for the right reason. You have to be there not for the fame and glory and recognition and being a page in a history book, but you have to be there because you believe your talent and ability can be applied effectively to operation of the spacecraft. Whether you are an astronomer or a life scientist, geophysicist, or a pilot, you’ve got to be there because you believe you are good in your field, and you can contribute, not because you are going to get a lot of fame or whatever when you get back. So that motive has to be there to start with.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_30272" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30272" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30272 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-01419.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-30272 lazyload" alt="The first two groups of astronauts selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The original seven Mercury astronauts, selected in April 1959, are seated left to right, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., Virgil I. Grissom, M. Scott Carpenter, Walter M. Schirra Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Donald K. Slayton. The second group of NASA astronauts, named in September 1962 are, standing left to right, Edward H. White II, James A. McDivitt, John W. Young, Elliot M. See Jr., Charles Conrad Jr., Frank Borman, Neil A. Armstrong, Thomas P. Stafford and James A. Lovell Jr. (NASA)" width="2280" height="1028" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-01419.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-01419-380x171.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-01419-760x343.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-01419.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30272" class="wp-caption-text">The first two groups of astronauts selected by NASA. The original seven Mercury astronauts, selected in April 1959, are seated left to right, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., Virgil I. Grissom, M. Scott Carpenter, Walter M. Schirra Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Donald K. Slayton. The second group of NASA astronauts, named in September 1962 are, standing left to right, Edward H. White II, James A. McDivitt, John W. Young, Elliot M. See Jr., Charles Conrad Jr., Frank Borman, Neil A. Armstrong, Thomas P. Stafford and James A. Lovell Jr. (Photo Credit: NASA)</figcaption></figure> <p>And you have to be a fairly dedicated, objective individual, recognize that it is going to be dangerous, and you are going to spend your time practicing what to do if things go wrong.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/IcpevwbCgq4?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_22_31_20.Still011-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_22_31_20.Still011-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>You take that initial attitude of believing you can do it, and you build a lot of confidence, because — particularly in the simulators — if you respond to two or three horrible emergencies during the course of a morning, and do that day in and day out for weeks and months, it’s a tremendous confidence-builder. Some people could probably say it’s brainwashing in its best form. But there is a total confidence at the time of launch, because of the initial attitude, and because of the training philosophies — coping with contingencies.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_30255" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30255" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-30255 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611817.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30255 size-full lazyload" alt="A thermometer in his mouth, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., watches as the astronaut's personal physician, Lt. Col. William K. Douglas, checks his blood pressure in Cape Canaveral, May 5, 1961. Shepard and his backup pilot, John H. Glenn, Jr., were given final physical examinations this morning at Cape Canaveral before Shepard took off on America's first manned space flight. (AP Photo)" width="2280" height="1848" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611817.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611817-380x308.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611817-760x616.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611817.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30255" class="wp-caption-text">A thermometer in his mouth, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., watches as the physician, Lt. Col. William K. Douglas, checks his blood pressure in Cape Canaveral, May 5, 1961. Shepard and his backup pilot, John H. Glenn, Jr., were given final physical examinations at Cape Canaveral before Shepard took off on America’s first manned space flight. (AP)</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>NASA had a few mishaps with their first test firings, didn’t they? You couldn’t have been 100 percent sure that this Mercury spacecraft was going to work when you stepped into it </strong><strong>that day.</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: That’s very true.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/c4O2LMv83Lc?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_08_15_21.Still012-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_08_15_21.Still012-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I think all of us certainly believed the statistics, which said that probably 88 percent chance of mission success and maybe 96 percent chance of survival. And we were willing to take those odds. But we wanted to be sure that if there were any failures in the machine that the man was going to be there to take over. And to correct it. And I think that still is true of this business — which is basically research and development — that you probably spend more time in planning and training and designing for things to go wrong, and how you cope with them, than you do for things to go right.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_30278" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30278" style="width: 1041px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30278 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/225750main_1076_full_full.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-30278 lazyload" alt="Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. sits in his Freedom 7 Mercury capsule, ready for launch. Just 23 days earlier, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first man in space. ''That little race between Gagarin and me,'' Shepard said, ''was really, really close.'' After several delays and more than four hours in the capsule, Shepard was ready to go, and he famously urged mission controllers to ''fix your little problem and light this candle.'' (NASA)" width="1041" height="1592" data-sizes="(max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/225750main_1076_full_full.jpg 1041w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/225750main_1076_full_full-248x380.jpg 248w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/225750main_1076_full_full-497x760.jpg 497w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/225750main_1076_full_full.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30278" class="wp-caption-text">Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. sits in his Freedom 7 Mercury capsule, ready for launch. Just 23 days earlier, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first man in space. ”That little race between Gagarin and me,” Shepard said, ”was really, really close.” After several delays and more than four hours in the capsule, Shepard was ready to go, and he famously urged mission controllers to ”fix your little problem and light this candle.” (Credit: NASA)</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Admiral Shepard, on the morning you got into Freedom 7, took off, and became the first American in space, what were you experiencing, what were you feeling?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: I think I ran the whole gamut of emotions. I woke up an hour before I was supposed to, and started going over the mental checklist: where do I go from here, what do I do? I don’t remember eating anything at all, just going through the physical, getting into the suit. We practiced that so much, it was all rote. We practiced that so much that I was ready for that.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/edXg3OiaiFQ?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_10_05_19.Still007-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_10_05_19.Still007-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>The excitement really didn’t start to build until the trailer — which was carrying me, with a space suit with ventilation and all that sort of stuff — pulled up to the launch pad. I walked out, and looked at that huge rocket, the Redstone rocket, for the first time. Of course it’s not huge by today’s standards, but it seemed pretty big then. And I thought, well now, there is that little rascal, and I’m going to get up on top and fly that thing. And you know, pilots always go out to the airplanes and kick the tires before they fly. Nobody would let me get near the rocket to kick the fins, but I kind of walked around and thought, well, I’ll take a good look at it, because I’ll never see that part of the machine again. And then the excitement started building, I think, at that point.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_30249" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30249" style="width: 2355px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30249 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535495main_Mercuryliftoff_full.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-30249 lazyload" alt="In this view, the Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) spacecraft carrying Alan Shepard in Freedom 7 is already headed towards its suborbital maneuver, shortly after lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. (NASA)" width="2355" height="3000" data-sizes="(max-width: 2355px) 100vw, 2355px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535495main_Mercuryliftoff_full.jpg 2355w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535495main_Mercuryliftoff_full-298x380.jpg 298w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535495main_Mercuryliftoff_full-597x760.jpg 597w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535495main_Mercuryliftoff_full.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30249" class="wp-caption-text">May 5, 1961: In this view, the Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) spacecraft carrying astronaut Alan Shepard in Freedom 7 is already headed towards its suborbital maneuver, shortly after lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. (NASA)</figcaption></figure> <p>After I was strapped in and ready to go, we had to hold, because we had to change a generator in the Redstone rocket.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/D9eoou00zw8?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_44_40_03.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_44_40_03.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I had a chance to sit back and relax a little bit, and again go through the process of “what do I do” for the first few minutes and first few seconds of the flight. And so I was really pretty relaxed by the time that lift-off finally occurred. I guess my pulse really wasn’t much over about 110 or so. I’ve forgotten exactly what it was, but everybody thought I was a pretty cool customer. At that point, you are basically thinking about, “What do I do if this goes wrong? What do I do if that goes wrong?” You know what critical things have to happen in sequence. The fact that you are accelerating with the thrust of the rocket is good, it’s very positive. You know that the rocket is doing its job and it’s doing it correctly. You’re just going over a checklist of one thing after the other. You’ve done it in the simulator so many times, you don’t have a real sense of being excited when the flight is going on. You’re excited before, but as soon as the liftoff occurs, you are busy doing what you have to do.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_30264" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30264" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30264 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535509main_EarthObservations_full.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-30264 lazyload" alt="On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. had a view of Earth that no American had seen before, looking down on the home planet from the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule on his history-making suborbital flight. The 15-minute flight lifted him to an altitude of over 116 miles and a maximum speed of 5,134 miles per hour. During the flight, Shepard reported seeing the outlines of the west coast of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, along with Florida's Lake Okeechobee." width="2280" height="2250" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535509main_EarthObservations_full.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535509main_EarthObservations_full-380x375.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535509main_EarthObservations_full-760x750.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535509main_EarthObservations_full.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30264" class="wp-caption-text">On May 5, 1961: Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. had a view of Earth that no American had seen before, looking down on the home planet from the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule on his history-making suborbital flight. The 15-minute flight lifted him to an altitude of over 116 miles and a maximum speed of 5,134 miles per hour. During the flight, Shepard reported seeing the outlines of the west coast of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. (Credit: NASA)</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>What were you thinking when they finally got you back to the carrier, and the world was waiting for you?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: Of course I was delighted the flight was over, but I still had to worry about cleaning up inside the cabin, I had to worry about the hatch, how to get in the sling, and so on.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZewHhqnd4NE?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_01_26_09.Still014-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_01_26_09.Still014-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I remember just reaching the apex of the trajectory, when I was going to be in the middle of the weightlessness, and I was looking at the periscope, and all of a sudden I said, “You know, somebody is going to ask me how it feels to be weightless, so you better pay attention to how it feels to be weightless.” So I was going through the motions of flying, but at the same time trying to assess physiologically how I felt. Was I dizzy, or confused? And so on. And then I thought, “Well, somebody is going to ask me how the earth looks.” And so I looked down through the periscope — which was all that we had at that point — and made a few remarks, I think, on the tape, or perhaps on the radio. Then I had to get ready for reentry, so enough of that subjective thinking and back to the objectivity required to get this baby oriented to come back in. So you see, you could really go through a whole gamut of feelings, of nervousness and elation. Obviously at that point I was delighted. The rocket had worked perfectly, and all I had to do was survive the reentry forces. You do it all, in a flight like that, in a rather short period of time, just 16 minutes as a matter of fact.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_30253" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30253" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30253 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535479main_recovery_full.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-30253 lazyload" alt="A Marine helicopter picks up Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard and his Freedom 7 capsule in the Atlantic Ocean after his first American sub-orbital flight on May 5, 1961. Engineers said the spacecraft was in such great shape it could be reused. Doctors said Shepard could be used again too. Only 11 minutes after landing, he was onboard the U.S. Navy carrier Lake Champlain, where he took a congratulatory phone call from President Kennedy. (NASA)" width="2280" height="1723" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535479main_recovery_full.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535479main_recovery_full-380x287.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535479main_recovery_full-760x574.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535479main_recovery_full.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30253" class="wp-caption-text">A Marine helicopter picks up Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard and his Freedom 7 capsule in the Atlantic Ocean after his first American sub-orbital flight on May 5, 1961. Engineers said the spacecraft was in such great shape it could be reused. Doctors said Shepard could be used again too. Only 11 minutes after landing, he was onboard the U.S. Navy carrier Lake Champlain, where he took a congratulatory phone call from President Kennedy. (NASA)</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Clearly one wasn’t enough. Did you know then that you wanted to do it again?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: Oh, absolutely. I was delighted when I was assigned command of the first Gemini flight with Tom Stafford as my co-pilot, but it was shortly after that I developed a disorientation problem in my ear, and NASA grounded me. I was grounded for almost six years.</p> <figure id="attachment_31221" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31221" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-31221 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-deck-Shepard-Alan.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-31221 size-full lazyload" width="2280" height="1454" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-deck-Shepard-Alan.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-deck-Shepard-Alan-380x242.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-deck-Shepard-Alan-760x485.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-deck-Shepard-Alan.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-31221" class="wp-caption-text">Shepard on the deck of the U.S. Navy Carrier Lake Champlain after a post-flight inspection of his space capsule.</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>How did you feel about that?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: I didn’t like it at all. This problem is called Meniere’s syndrome. It causes dizziness, nausea, lack of balance and so on. The prediction was that in some cases it was correctable. I said, “In my case it is going to be correctable.” A NASA guy said, “We like you, Shepard, you can be in charge of all the astronauts. You can’t fly, obviously, but you can fly with somebody else.” Whenever I flew, I always had to have somebody in the back seat of the airplane. So I was in administrative charge of the astronaut group, their training and so on. I could set them down, pat them on the head, and watch them fly. That was a little tough.</p> <figure id="attachment_30242" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30242" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30242 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776619.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-30242 lazyload" alt="Almost beside herself with glee, Mrs. Alan Shepard, left, wife of the famous astronaut, as she appeared on the front porch of her Virginia Beach home after the word had come that her husband was safe. With her are her mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Brewer, Alice Williams, a niece, and her daughter Juliana in Norfolk on May 5, 1961. (AP Photo/Bill Allen)" width="2280" height="1860" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776619.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776619-380x310.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776619-760x620.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776619.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30242" class="wp-caption-text">May 5, 1961: Almost beside herself with glee, Mrs. Alan Shepard, wife of the famous astronaut, as she appeared on the front porch of her Virginia Beach home after the word had come that her husband was safe. With her are her mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Brewer, Alice Williams, a niece, and her daughter Juliana in Norfolk, VA.</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Then it was your turn, Admiral Shepard. Ten years after your first space flight, you find yourself on the moon.</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: I finally found a gent who corrected my ear problem surgically, and after NASA looked at me for perhaps a year, they decided that I was well enough to fly again. At that point I had some influence in crew selection, so I was able to work out a deal where I could fly on the lunar mission.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/OPajlHUR55Y?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_34_19_13.Still009-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_34_19_13.Still009-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/passion/">Passion</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>In the helicopter, flying back to the carrier, and seeing thousands of sailors on the deck of the carrier, being a Navy pilot, having made hundreds of carrier landings already, it was sort of like coming home. Except that there they were cheering for me. And that was probably the first moment of the flight when I felt the emotion of success — perhaps pride — in what I had done. And that was probably the first emotional moment in that whole flight.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_30260" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30260" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-30260 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-55387.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30260 size-full lazyload" alt="These three astronauts are the prime crew of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission. They are Alan B. Shepard Jr., center, commander; Stuart A. Roosa, left, command module pilot; and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot. The Apollo 14 emblem is in the background. (NASA)" width="2280" height="1752" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-55387.jpg 2280w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-55387-380x292.jpg 380w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-55387-760x584.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-55387.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30260" class="wp-caption-text">These three astronauts are the prime crew of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission. They are Alan B. Shepard Jr., center, commander; Stuart A. Roosa, left, command module pilot; and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot.</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>What was it like to be up on the moon? You were 47 years old. Did anybody say you were too old to go to the moon?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: Oh, yeah. We got all kinds of flak from the guys. In the first place, I hadn’t flown anything since 1961, and here it was ten years later, and the two guys with me had not flown before at all, so they called us the three rookies. We had to put up with that. And then the fact that everybody said, “That old man shouldn’t be up there on the moon.” As if it wasn’t enough of a challenge as it was, but that was part of the make-up of all those guys. They are still a pretty competitive group. So again, the gamut of emotions, the gamut of feelings, but instead of being 16 minutes in Freedom VII, it was stretched out to ten days in Apollo XIV. During the trans-lunar and the trans-earth phases there were almost three days when you really could relax. There were tasks of navigation and unstowing and getting ready and so on, but there was also some chance to look around, and see what the earth looked like, and really get used to zero gravity. Very pleasant moments.</p> <figure id="attachment_30234" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30234" style="width: 2340px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-30234 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/337357main_pg95_AS14-68-9405_full.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30234 size-full lazyload" alt="Mission commander Alan Shepard assembles a double core tube. Astronauts Shepard and lunar module pilot Edgar D. Mitchell, who took this photograph, explored the lunar surface while astronaut Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, orbited the moon. (NASA)" width="2340" height="2350" data-sizes="(max-width: 2340px) 100vw, 2340px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/337357main_pg95_AS14-68-9405_full.jpg 2340w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/337357main_pg95_AS14-68-9405_full-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/337357main_pg95_AS14-68-9405_full-378x380.jpg 378w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/337357main_pg95_AS14-68-9405_full-757x760.jpg 757w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/337357main_pg95_AS14-68-9405_full.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30234" class="wp-caption-text">February 6, 1971:  Alan Shepard assembles a double core tube as he stands beside the rickshaw-type portable workbench unique to this mission. Shepard and lunar module pilot Edgar D. Mitchell, who took this photograph, explored the lunar surface while astronaut Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, orbited the moon. (NASA)</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>You mean you never just looked around and said, “Here I am! I am on the moon!”</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: I did, but I really didn’t do that until we had landed and I was on the surface, and walked around a little bit, and then stopped and looked up.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/uvEzfWAKohc?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_03_43_09.Still001-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_03_43_09.Still001-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>The deal I tried to cut with NASA was to give me command of Apollo XIII. And they said, “Oh no. We can’t do that, you are too much of a political problem.” I said, “Well now, I’ve been training along with all these other guys, and I’m ready to go.” And they said, “Well, we know that, but the public doesn’t know that. So we will make a deal with you. We will let you command Apollo XIV if you will give us another crew for Apollo XIII.” So Slayton and I gave them another crew. And of course XIII was the one that had all the problems on the way up. A big explosion. You remember, the cliffhanger coming back. So apparently, I was getting some help from outside sources.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p>I was going about the little chores when I came to a rest period and looked up at the earth. The first time really seeing it in the black sky, the blue planet all by itself up there. That was an emotional moment. Some of the emotion was a result of having successfully arrived, a little sense of relief, but I think all of us, in our own ways, have expressed the same kind of feeling.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/XEwNswimHDw?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_03_19_21.Still013-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_03_19_21.Still013-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>We had a couple of cliffhangers on Apollo XIV. In the first place, we tried to dock with the lunar module, and that didn’t work, so it could have been the end of the deal, but we finally got that organized. And then, the actual landing on the surface. We were supposed to get an update from the radar, we couldn’t go below 13,000 feet, and that came in only at the last minute. So there were a lot of little nervous things that kept you awake all the way down until you landed. But then you are there, and you say, “Well, we’re not going to take off for a couple of days, so let’s relax and enjoy it.”</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_30263" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30263" style="width: 1583px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-30263 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036im_/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard_Alan_Bartlett_Jr.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30263 size-full lazyload" alt="Rear Admiral Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., United States Navy" width="1583" height="2000" data-sizes="(max-width: 1583px) 100vw, 1583px" data-srcset="/web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard_Alan_Bartlett_Jr.jpg 1583w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard_Alan_Bartlett_Jr-301x380.jpg 301w, /web/20210119062036im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard_Alan_Bartlett_Jr-602x760.jpg 602w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036/https://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard_Alan_Bartlett_Jr.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30263" class="wp-caption-text">Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN: Recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, The Distinguished Flying Cross, and two NASA Distinguished Service Medals.</figcaption></figure> <p>I think all of us have expressed that. Maybe if people had a chance to see this, they wouldn’t be so parochial, they wouldn’t be so interested in their own particular territories. That will come in time, I think. Perhaps we could put the Security Council on the space station, and let them try to see where their little bailiwick is. To me and, I think, to all of us, it was a realization that our world is finite, it is small, it is fragile, and we need to start thinking about how to take care of it.</p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062036if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/RLa96e2IbjU?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_03_18_27.Still006-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-1991-MasterEdit.00_03_18_27.Still006-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Seeing the earth, even though it is four times as large as the moon, but still it looks fragile. Still, it looks small. You think it’s pretty big when you’re back there among your friends and it’s 25,000 miles around, and so on. But from that distance you realize it is, in fact, fragile. It is, in fact, a small part only of our solar system, much less the rest of the universe.</p> </div> </div>     <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Admiral Shepard, when did you first become interested in aviation? When was your first plane ride?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: The first plane ride was in a homemade glider my buddy and I built. Unfortunately we didn’t get more than four feet off the ground, because it crashed. But the first legitimate airplane ride was when I was working at the local airport. And as a reward, partial reward for my activities, was given a ride as a passenger. And after two or three of those, the same pilot, he gave me a chance to play with the controls. And that’s when it really all started.</p> <p><strong>What inspired this interest in planes? Who were your heroes?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: In those days, talking in terms of a hero — it had to be Charles Lindbergh. I was very young when he flew across the Atlantic, and very impressed.</p> <p>I think my interest in aviation goes back to grade school, nine, ten, early teens. When Lindbergh made his flight. He was the big hero. I started building model airplanes. Later, in the early teens, I used to ride my bike every Saturday morning to the nearest airport, ten miles away, push airplanes in and out of the hangars, and clean up the hangars. Get a free ride once and a while. Get to hold the stick once in a while. And that’s when my interest in aviation really started.</p> <p>At that particular point, there were really no aviation schools, as they have nowadays. There was not a lot of commercial aviation. We also knew it would be difficult, because of the financial condition of the family, for me to go to college. My dad was talking to a friend of his, who was a Naval Academy graduate, about my future and my interest in aviation. The chap said, “Little Alan is a fairly bright guy, and he could probably pass the entrance exams at the Naval Academy if he studied a little bit.” The Navy was just starting their air arm. “Maybe he could get into the Naval Academy, become a Naval Officer and go through flight school. Then he can go through college and fly airplanes at the same time. He could become an aviator and use his talents.” Well, the chap was right. I guess I did apply myself properly. I passed the entrance exams, got the appointment, and it just went from there.</p> <p><strong>What were you like as a kid growing up?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: I thought I was pretty normal, I did chores around the farm, had my own newspaper route to make money to buy a bicycle. Of course, in our grade school, in those days, there were no organized sports at all. We just went out and ran around the schoolyard for recess. I always felt I was pretty normal. I did what I had to do around home, and did what I had to do in school.</p> <p><strong>It’s a long, long way from a one-room country schoolhouse in New Hampshire to the moon. Is that a journey you ever thought you’d make?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: No, I didn’t. Certainly when I was in the one-room country school you described, I guess my ambition at that point was to get through with a creditable performance. Really, of course, nobody thought about astronauts in those days, but I didn’t really even start thinking about airplanes very much when I was in grade school. So that interest sort of came later on. But even in those days, a one-room country school — with one teacher, six grades — was unusual. And I think it was because I came from a rural community, and that was the school of that particular day. I think it was beneficial to me. Because of the fact that one grade was not reciting continuously, obviously — doing a little studying and so on — so I think I learned more in the first grade about the second grade, and consequently I only spent five years there. Now I’d like to say I was smart enough to finish six grades in five years, but I think perhaps the teacher was just glad to get rid of me at that point.</p> <p><strong>What kind of a student were you?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: Pretty good, I think. I didn’t mind studying. Obviously math and the physical science subjects interested me more than some of the more artistic subjects, but I think I was a pretty good student. Obviously the teacher thought so.</p> <p><strong>What teacher stands out in your mind, specifically, that might have influenced you?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: It would have to be that one lady teacher in grade school. All six grades, one room, 25 students. She was about nine feet tall as I recall and a very tough disciplinarian. Always had the ruler ready to whack the knuckles if somebody got out of hand. She ran a very well-disciplined group. I think most of the youngsters responded to that. There were one or two that couldn’t handle it and obviously they dropped by the wayside. But that still sticks out in my mind. That’s the lady that taught me how to study, and really provided that kind of discipline, which is essentially still with me.</p> <p><strong>Was there anything in your home life or your upbringing or your youth to indicate that you would someday be the first American in space?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: No, I don’t really think so. I think certainly some of the characteristics which were helpful to me in the aviation business and the astronaut business were developed in those days. First of all, the home life. I came from a family of hard workers. Achievers — certainly to some degree — in that small pond. And then the teacher, who was bigger than life itself. I think the sense of family and family achievement, plus the discipline which I received there from that one-room school were really very helpful in what I did later on.</p> <p><strong>Admiral Shepard, lots of Navy pilots didn’t take things as far as you did. What was the challenge to you personally? Why did you become a test pilot and an astronaut?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: Obviously I was challenged by becoming a naval aviator, by landing aboard aircraft carriers and so on. But in those days I figured I was just one of those guys that was doing his job. Maybe I could roll the airplane a little better than the next guy. But when I was selected, after my very first tour of squadron duty, to become one of the youngest candidates for the test pilot school, I began to realize, maybe you are a little bit better. You may not have any extra talent, but maybe you are just paying more attention to what you are doing. I think that’s when I realized I was the sort of person that was objective enough and dedicated enough to do a good job. Then there was the challenge to keep doing better and better, to fly the best test flight that anybody had ever flown. That led to my being recognized as one of the more experienced test pilots, and that led to the astronaut business.</p> <p><strong>Admiral Shepard, when NASA sent out the letters, looking for volunteers for the space program, what was your reaction, having heard about that?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: At the same time the invitations to volunteer were sent out, there was an article in the New York Times that said 110 top military test pilots would be chosen by NASA to become space pioneers. I read the article on a Friday afternoon and thought, I fulfill all these qualifications, I wonder where my invitation is? It was a rather miserable weekend of saying, gosh, I wonder why they didn’t choose me? I found out first thing Monday morning that the mail had been misplaced in the Admiral’s staff where I was stationed at the time. The telegram was delivered to me Monday morning. So it was kind of a weekend of saying, gosh, I wonder why they didn’t choose me? Obviously I am highly qualified in these particular areas.</p> <p>But everything turned out fine, and we were given the opportunity to go to Washington and be briefed on the project of man in space, and given the opportunity to choose whether we wanted to get involved or not. Some of the chaps had the same qualifications but were a little more mature and were thinking more of their careers in the Navy or the Air Force. There were several who chose not to get involved, not because of fear of failure, but rather because it was a career deviation.</p> <p>When I was finally selected, made the finals, one of seven, NASA folks said, “Well now you’d better call your parents and let them know what you’ve been doing, because your name is going to be in the paper tomorrow.” So I called, and mother was delighted. But my father took the attitude, “Well, what is this you’re going to do, son?” Because he could see a deviation in the military career, in which I had been relatively successful up until that point. And even at that age — gosh, I was what? 35 years old then, give or take. And when your old man says, “You’re gonna do what, son?” there is a little pause of reflection. Fortunately, in my case, he lived long enough to see me go to the moon and back. And one evening, we’d had dinner, the ladies had retired, and we were having a drink in front of the fire, and he said, “You remember when I said ‘What are you going to do, son?'” I said, “Yes sir, I certainly do.” And he said, “Well I was wrong.”</p> <p><strong>What did your wife say? What was her reaction?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: I think she was all for it. You know, being a test pilot isn’t always the healthiest business in the world. I had been involved in testing off and on for six or seven years, flying stranger airplanes higher and faster than we could talk about, and having done it reasonably successfully. They say any landing you can walk away from is a good one. I think she knew immediately that I would volunteer for it.</p> <p><strong>What kinds of things were the seven of you subjected to in the training process? What were they looking for? What were they doing to you?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: All of us trained for physiological response. We wanted to be in great shape, we wanted to be able to cope with zero gravity, we wanted to be able to cope with accelerations and decelerations and so on. So all of us trained so that we were probably in the best physical condition we had ever been in up until that point. Beyond that, in the early days we all were given certain areas of responsibility. For example, because of my naval background, I was assigned to be responsive to the engineers on recovery in the water. Contingencies, what do you do if the thing sinks? That sort of stuff. Others were involved in the tracking system. Others were involved in propulsion systems of the rocket as a specialty area. We worked with the engineers in the design and construction and testing phases in those various areas, then we would get back together at the end of the week and brief each other as to what had gone on. So even though we were there competing with each other for the first ride, we were still acting as a team, and helping each other in those days.</p> <p><strong>Why do you think NASA chose you for that first manned space flight?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: I don’t know. And the chap who made the final decision, Bob Gilruth, who was the director of the manned spacecraft center in those days, has never told me. He just said, “You were the right guy at the right time.” That’s how it all happened. I was the right guy at the right time.</p> <p><strong>So, if you work hard enough, and you are in the right place at the right time, you can be shot off into space.</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: Or do anything else you want to do. There’s a message here for me still. Using the days at NASA as an example, we were not always successful. There were two really serious lapses of concentration. A little bit of overconfidence perhaps. A lack of attention to duty. Little insidious things that happened. You had this great team of dedicated, qualified people, but they get a little bit complacent, and boom! Pretty soon something goes wrong. That’s always been a good lesson to me that you’ve got to do the very best you can all the time. Now, you can’t always do that. But you can recognize when you’re goofing off, and get back on track. It’s a very insidious kind of thing, but if you look for the signals, they are there. If you are a little bit late for work, leave a little bit early. “I don’t have to do that tonight, because I can do that tomorrow.” These are the signs that I am talking about, and they eventually lead to bad decisions. They eventually lead to a lack of performance. If you really want to do something, you’ve got to keep analyzing yourself so that you don’t fall into that little insidious trap, and you don’t get complacent. Because there are a lot of people out there that are going to run right over you on the way to the same target.</p> <p><strong>Admiral Shepard, you were given a parachute to take along on that ride, weren’t you? Why did you have a personal parachute in addition to the escape tower rocket?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: Well, it was sort of a last-minute decision. And the reason behind it was that there was some belief that the escape tower might not separate from the top of the spacecraft. You get down to twenty-five thousand feet or so, down at velocity, and you are not going to be able to get the parachutes out because the escape tower is still on. So we said, “Well, lets go ahead…” We put a little chest pack right there. We practiced, and there was enough time to hook the chest pack on, undo the straps, open the door, jump out, and come down in a personal parachute. It was just a tertiary means of getting out.</p> <p><strong>It sounds to me like there wasn’t any room for panic in this business.</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: That’s right. People have said over the years, “Boy, you really must have been scared.” Fortunately, I wasn’t scared. Nervous, but not frightened to death. Because if you have a person there who is petrified, he is not going to be any good as pilot, as a backup, as an observer, or whatever his function is going to be. You have to be trained to the point where you absolutely are not panicked.</p> <p><strong>You talked at the time about this smooth, easy ride. But Michael Collins said it got so bad at times that he couldn’t read the instruments. What kind of a ride was it?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: The Redstone was a relatively smooth rocket. There was a little buffeting when it went from subsonic to supersonic speed, but other than that it was a pretty smooth rocket. What Mike is talking about is what all of us experienced who flew the Saturn V, which was really a heck of a lot more powerful: seven and a half million pounds, as opposed to some 75 thousand pounds in the Redstone. There was a lot of vibration in the Saturn V.</p> <p><strong>How did that Mercury flight compare with flying an airplane?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: It was similar only to the degree that we were able to design into the system that a certain movement of the stick was going to give you some kind of a familiar response in the instruments. Otherwise it didn’t fly like an airplane. It didn’t have any kind of a feedback of the faster you went the more difficult it was to move the stick, or that sort of thing. The pilot looked at his cues of attitude and speed and orientation and so on and responded as he would from the same cues in an airplane, but there was no way it flew the same. The simulators had showed us that. We just had to forget about wing tips and looking out through the nose of the airplane, and that sort of thing. It just wasn’t going to be that.</p> <p><strong>I understand you met your old hero Charles Lindbergh at the time of the first moon landing. Is that so?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: I had the opportunity to be with him on several occasions before he died. A couple of times at the White House, at state dinner type functions, and then perhaps the most memorable visit with him was really spontaneous. It was prior to the launch of Apollo XI, the first lunar landing. I was there with my family, in the VIP section. I was standing off by myself, just sort of reflecting on what was happening, and this gentleman came up in rough clothes, with a sailor hat turned upside down, and introduced himself. Of course, I knew right away who he was. We had about 30 minutes of recollecting what he had done and what that had meant to early aviation.</p> <p><strong>What did he tell you?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: We talked in terms of his pioneering efforts. Nowadays we call it research, pushing out the frontiers. We were recognizing what the contributions of those early days of aviation — and, like with me, the early days of space — meant to the general public. These innovative new airplanes and innovative new spacecraft, and the science that is developed from that, filtered into everyday life. It was about at that point he became interested in the interaction between technology and the environment. That was the thrust of the later years of his life. We talked about that a little bit too. It was a really a very exciting thing for me to be with him, one on one like that, talking about our favorite subjects. Fortunately my girls were there and they had a chance to meet him also. So it was a very memorable day for us, as well as for Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldine and Mike Collins.</p> <p><strong>Did you share any philosophical thoughts? You were one pioneer talking to another about that kind of adventure, that going off into the unknown, that making of history.</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: No. Except in moments like this — when it’s obvious in retrospect — I have never really felt that I made some historical contributions. During the actual process of flying spacecraft, or flying the Spirit of St. Louis, one doesn’t think of one’s self as being a hero or a historical figure. One does it because the challenge is there and one feels reasonably qualified to accomplish it. And it’s later on I suppose, perhaps at the suggestion of other people, that you say, “Well yes, maybe.” I must admit, maybe I am a piece of history after all.</p> <p><strong>But even at the time, you must have given some thought to what you were about to do when you stepped into that spacecraft.</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: Absolutely. But not from the standpoint of the contribution to history, from the standpoint of an individual response to a challenge which was, in our case, a highly technical challenge. In the early days particularly, we didn’t envision ourselves receiving the attention and publicity which we did, because there were a lot of skeptics in the early days of the space business. Half the people thought it was exciting and rather positive, and the other half thought we were crazy to be doing that sort of thing. There is probably a lesson there. If a person shows up to fly an airplane, or a spacecraft, or to perform some surgery, or to be the greatest lawyer in a certain field, then he has to be there because it’s a challenge to him personally. He knows he can do a good job. He can’t be thinking of whether he is going to be a hero or whether he is going to be a bum as a result of what he is doing. In other words, a person — to be successful — has to be there because he knows he is equipped to do a job, he is challenged by the job, and that’s really the reason why he is there.</p> <p><strong>Was there ever a time when you thought any of this was not possible? Mercury, or going to the moon?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: No. I think all of us had such confidence in the technology that it was not a question. It was just a question of scheduling and a question of the funds to do it. I think one has to have that kind of an attitude, particularly when you are involved in research and development. You’ve got to believe it’s going to be done eventually.</p> <p><strong>What was it like finding your way around on the lunar surface?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: We had a ball up there. Everything was essentially the way we had practiced for it. We laughed and giggled and bounced around. I think almost everybody did. But we couldn’t use that fancy little car. We were assigned a landing area about a mile away from a fairly large crater, which had a 15-degree slope, as you approach the top of it. It was sort of like trying to climb a sand dune in the desert. You take one step and your foot slips back, so it really got to be physically difficult for us. Finally, we just picked up the golf cart and carried it up the hill, rather than try to drag it over the rocks. That was a little bit of a surprise. Also, we had difficulty defining the rim of the crater to which we were supposed to walk. Because of the shadows, it appeared in the photographs to be a very sharp rim, but as a matter of fact, there were millions and billions of years of meteorites. It was fairly well rounded. We couldn’t actually recognize it. Although we were right there at the rim, and collected samples from the injected boulders, we didn’t realize that we were specifically right there.</p> <p>Outside of that, we accomplished everything, collected all the samples. We had landed closer to it than any of the other five landings. We brought back the oldest rocks. I was really very pleased. At the end of the second mission, I played with a little makeshift golf club that I had received clearance to play with. I whacked a couple of golf balls up there.</p> <p><strong>Why were you hitting golf balls on the moon?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: All of us wanted to think of something which would demonstrate — especially to young people — the lack of atmosphere and the difference of the gravity. The gravity is only one sixth that of Earth, and here is a total vacuum up there. Some of the clever guys before us had dropped a little lead ball, and a feather, to watch them slowly proceed at exactly the same rate to the surface. It’s the sort of demonstration that had been used before. Being a golfer, I thought if I could just get a club up there, and get it going through the ball at the same speed, that it would go six times as far as it would have gone here on Earth. I designed a club head to fit on the handle we used for scooping up dust samples. I cleared it with the powers that be, and practiced in a space suit before we went to be sure there were no safety implications. The deal I made with the boss was that if things were messed up on the surface, I wouldn’t play with it, because we would be accused of being too frivolous. But, if things had gone well, which they did, then the last thing I was going to do, before climbing up the ladder to come home, was to whack these two golf balls. Which I did, and I folded up the collapsible golf club and brought it back with me. The balls are still up there. Perhaps the youngsters of today will go up and play golf with them some time, 25 or 30 years from now.</p> <p><strong>How has fame affected your life? You weren’t motivated by wanting to become a hero or a celebrity, but you became one. How do you handle that kind of thing?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: You’re absolutely right. I didn’t volunteer to become a hero. In the early days, none of us realized what the positive response would be to the handful of us who were the first to fly, the first to orbit, the first to land on the moon. Becoming a public figure overnight was a little difficult at first. I hadn’t really expected it: all of a sudden realizing that people wanted autographs, didn’t always ask at the right time, they weren’t always polite, and they sort of figured we were public property because they were taxpayers. We appreciated their contributions, but I had a little difficulty with that.</p> <p>Then, one day I was looking at a film of President Kennedy giving me a medal in the Rose Garden. I made a few brief remarks afterward, and I said it was not because of my individual effort, but the efforts of the dedicated people that worked with us on the program over the years. I realized that I really meant it when I said that. If you really appreciate what these people have done, you will respond positively to whatever degree of attention you’re getting. From there on out, it’s been relatively easy for me to understand why it’s happened, and to be positively responsive to it.</p> <p><strong>Admiral Shepard, how about your family? Given the amount of dedication and time and sacrifice required to be an astronaut, was it possible to have a personal life? How did you balance your career and your personal life?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: My wife and I have always tried to explain to the girls — even when I had to go off on nine-month cruises in the Mediterranean or in the Pacific — why I was doing it, and what it was all about, that I felt that I could contribute to the military. There is a favorite family story that we still laugh about. I had my wife and the three girls aboard ship one night, at dinner in the officer’s mess. They saw everything: the white tablecloths, and the silver, and the stewards. I was on duty that night, so when they left, I stayed on board. And as they were riding back, one of the girls said, “Mommy, how come Daddy is so rich and we are so poor?”</p> <p>We always tried to share experiences with them. It was a little more difficult for them after the astronaut business, but they’ve responded well. All three are happily married, with their youngsters. And they’re not just happy homemakers. They’re all involved in little projects of their own, because they are challenged by wanting to help local charities, or wanting to start a business. I think they have turned out reasonably well.</p> <p><strong>Of all the things you’ve done, what are you proudest of?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: If it’s one thing, obviously it had to have been being selected to make the first manned space flight for the United States. That was competition at its best, not because of the fame or the recognition that went with it, but because of the fact that America’s best test pilots went through this selection process, down to seven guys, and of those seven, I was the first one to go. That always will be the most satisfying thing for me.</p> <p><strong>If a young man or woman came to you for advice on his or her life and career, what it takes to achieve something, what would you say to them?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: I would say that they have to know deep down inside that it’s something that they really want to do, themselves. It’s not to please mommy or daddy, not to please Uncle Harry because he did this, or daddy did that. It has to be because you know you are qualified to do it, and if you apply yourself, you can do it. And again, if there is going to be fame or fortune involved, you can’t do it for those purposes. Because, if you do it for fame, if you do it for fortune, they are both very bad appetites, because you never get enough of fame, and you never get enough of fortune. But if you do it as an objective, and you reach a point where — for the moment — you are satisfied, that gives you the confidence to go on to the next objective. That’s what I would say to young people.</p> <p><strong>Is there anything else you think is important to say?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: Let me make a little pitch. It’s been interesting over the years, in talking to the average layman about space. There is always the initial interest, and the excitement. So you go through how exciting it was, to them as well as to us. Then some more perceptive people say, “Really, what was the value of going to the moon. When you strip away all the excitement and glamour, how about the millions of dollars we spent sending you up there?” And I say, “Now wait a minute. You realize that I went to the moon and back, and I didn’t leave a single dollar up there.” And they say, “Where did all these millions of dollars go?” And I say, “Every single dollar that was spent on the space program, went into the pockets of the individuals who worked on it: the contractors, the subcontractors, the vendors. It went to feed their children, put clothes on their back, send them to school. They say, “Yeah, I guess that’s right, but how about all this high tech stuff that you left up there?” And I say, “We had some pretty sophisticated materials up there, but you probably couldn’t get five cents on the dollar for them today. However, the people who developed that are still here on the earth, and the research and development of techniques that they developed for that are here, and that’s being used today to improve communications satellites, and so on.” But let’s take it one step further.</p> <p>The one thing that we, in the United States today, still do better than any other country in the world, is to build a better mousetrap. Our level of technology is still better than the Russians by far, better than the Japanese, surprisingly enough. If we are going to be the leaders of the world, and we are going to worry about trade balance, if we are going to worry about military systems, or solving the problems of the environment, we are going to have to continue to spend money on research, medical research as well. We do that best, and I think it’s important for youngsters who have a bent toward technology and science not to get sidetracked into high-paying jobs as lawyers and, brokers and so on. Those are important, but there is still a need for any youngster who has any scientific interest at all to continue the lead that we have on technology in the world today, if we are interested in the future of the United States.</p> <p><strong>Admiral Shepard, if there was one place in this world — or in this universe — that you haven’t explored, what would that be?</strong></p> <p>Alan Shepard: I really hadn’t thought too much about it. We have traveled a lot. We have seen the whole world from a distance. I have seen a lot of beautiful countries. I have seen great artifacts: the pyramids, the Great Wall. I suppose maybe the top of Mt. Everest might be a neat place to go sometime, if I didn’t have to climb up there! If I could just all of a sudden be put on the top of Mount Everest, that would be pretty exciting.</p> <p><strong>A lot of people would say you’ve already outdone Mount Everest. Thank you, Admiral Shepard.</strong></p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>53 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3084112149533" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Alan_Shepard_as_a_student_aviator.jpg" data-image-caption="1946: Shepard began basic flight training school at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas." data-image-copyright="alan_shepard_as_a_student_aviator" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Alan_Shepard_as_a_student_aviator-290x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Alan_Shepard_as_a_student_aviator.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0843373493976" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/5964af485fda2e7cef2908f8a077f8c1.jpg" data-image-caption="Alan Shepard, with his wife, Louise, on their wedding day in 1945." data-image-copyright="Alan Shepard, with his wife Louise, on their wedding day in 1945." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/5964af485fda2e7cef2908f8a077f8c1-350x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/5964af485fda2e7cef2908f8a077f8c1.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2398042414356" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611864-826x1024.jpg" data-image-caption="Astronaut Alan Shepard in January 1961. (AP Photo)" data-image-copyright="Astronaut Alan Shepard in January 1961. (AP Photo)" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611864-826x1024-307x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611864-826x1024-613x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.76710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/29cf9bd8-e00d-42a3-b68d-3e0665921174.jpg" data-image-caption="The Mercury Seven (L-R): Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard, Deke Slayton" data-image-copyright="29cf9bd8-e00d-42a3-b68d-3e0665921174" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/29cf9bd8-e00d-42a3-b68d-3e0665921174-380x292.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/29cf9bd8-e00d-42a3-b68d-3e0665921174-760x583.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-KN-C17754.jpg" data-image-caption="Guests arrive for the presentation ceremony of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal to Astronaut Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr." data-image-copyright="jfkwhp-kn-c17754" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-KN-C17754-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-KN-C17754-760x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.45131578947368" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-01419.jpg" data-image-caption="The first two groups of astronauts selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The original seven Mercury astronauts, selected in April 1959, are seated left to right, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., Virgil I. Grissom, M. Scott Carpenter, Walter M. Schirra Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Donald K. Slayton. The second group of NASA astronauts, named in September 1962 are, standing left to right, Edward H. White II, James A. McDivitt, John W. Young, Elliot M. See Jr., Charles Conrad Jr., Frank Borman, Neil A. Armstrong, Thomas P. Stafford and James A. Lovell Jr. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="s63-01419" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-01419-380x171.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-01419-760x343.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0146862483311" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-ST-A14-2-61.jpg" data-image-caption="Presentation of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal to Astronaut Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr." data-image-copyright="jfkwhp-st-a14-2-61" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-ST-A14-2-61-375x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-ST-A14-2-61-749x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0215053763441" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-ST-C170-1-63.jpg" data-image-caption="May 1963: Presentation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) to Astronaut Major L. Gordon Cooper. (Cecil Stoughton. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston)" data-image-copyright="ST-C170-1-63" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-ST-C170-1-63-372x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-ST-C170-1-63-744x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.98552631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-KN-C17751.jpg" data-image-caption="Alan Shepard, Mrs. Shepard, Mrs. Kennedy, President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson, at the White House. (Courtesy Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr.)" data-image-copyright="jfkwhp-kn-c17751" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-KN-C17751-380x374.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-KN-C17751-760x749.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.99210526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-KN-C17770.jpg" data-image-caption="May 8, 1961: Reception following the presentation of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal to Astronaut Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr." data-image-copyright="jfkwhp-kn-c17770" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-KN-C17770-380x377.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-KN-C17770-760x754.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5291750503018" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/225750main_1076_full_full.jpg" data-image-caption="Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. sits in his Freedom 7 Mercury capsule, ready for launch. Just 23 days earlier, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first man in space. ''That little race between Gagarin and me,'' Shepard said, ''was really, really close.'' After several delays and more than four hours in the capsule, Shepard was ready to go, and he famously urged mission controllers to ''fix your little problem and light this candle.'' (NASA)" data-image-copyright="225750main_1076_full_full" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/225750main_1076_full_full-248x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/225750main_1076_full_full-497x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.71973684210526" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-4932854.jpg" data-image-caption="Pioneering Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard and his wife, Louise, sit in a car as they leave the White House, May 8, 1961, after Shepard was presented with the NASA distinguished service medal by President Kennedy. In the car with the Shepards is Vice President Johnson. (AP Photo)" data-image-copyright="pa-4932854" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-4932854-380x274.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-4932854-760x547.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-18753.jpg" data-image-caption="The Apollo 14 command module with astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart A. Roosa and Edgar Mitchell aboard approaches touchdown in the South Pacific Ocean, bringing to successful end a 10-day lunar landing mission. The splashdown occurred at 3:04 CST, February 9, 1971, approximately 765 nautical miles south of American Samoa. The crew was flown by helicopter to the U.S.S. New Orleans prime recovery ship. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="s71-18753" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-18753-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-18753-760x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/316421main_road2apollo-04_full.jpg" data-image-caption="As Project Mercury began in the late 1950s, NASA's Langley Research Center was thrust full force into the national spotlight with the arrival in Hampton of the original seven astronauts. Under the tutelage of the Space Task Group, (from left front row) Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Donald "Deke" Slayton, Gordon Cooper, (back row) Alan Shepard, Walter Schirra and John Glenn were trained at Langley to operate the space machines that would thrust them beyond the protective environment of Earth's atmosphere. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="316421main_road2apollo-04_full" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/316421main_road2apollo-04_full-380x285.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/316421main_road2apollo-04_full-760x570.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.70394736842105" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/423245main_Shannahs_64_full.jpg" data-image-caption="President John F. Kennedy (left) visits Mercury's flight control area a few days after John Glenn's flight in February 1962. To Kennedy's right are Glenn and astronaut Alan Shepard. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="423245main_shannahs_64_full" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/423245main_Shannahs_64_full-380x267.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/423245main_Shannahs_64_full-760x535.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78815789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-AR6569-F.jpg" data-image-caption="President John F. Kennedy Presents the NASA Distinguished Service Medal to Astronaut Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr." data-image-copyright="jfkwhp-ar6569-f" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-AR6569-F-380x299.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JFKWHP-AR6569-F-760x599.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.72763157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9806183.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Wernher von Braun addresses a crowd celebrating in front of the Madison County, Alabama courthouse following the successful launch of astronaut Alan Shepard, America's first astronaut in space, on a Mercury-Redstone launch vehicle. Freedom 7, Shepard's Mercury spacecraft, was launched from Cape Canaveral. He reached a speed of 5100 mph. His flight lasted 14.8 minutes, May 5, 1961. (MIX FILE)" data-image-copyright="9806183" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9806183-380x277.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9806183-760x553.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.1209439528024" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/5-s71-18395b.jpg" data-image-caption="" data-image-copyright="5-s71-18395b" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/5-s71-18395b-339x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/5-s71-18395b-678x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.1638591117917" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6414825.jpg" data-image-caption="Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. lifts off in the Freedom 7 Mercury spacecraft on May 5, 1961. This third flight of the Mercury-Redstone (MR-3) vehicle, developed by Dr. Wernher von Braun and the rocket team in Huntsille, Alabama, was the first manned space mission for the United States. During the 15-minute suborbital flight, Shepard reached an altitude of 115 miles and traveled 302 miles downrange. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="6414825" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6414825-327x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6414825-653x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.80789473684211" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9801807.jpg" data-image-caption="President John Kennedy and Dr. von Braun tour one of the laboratories at Marshall Space Flight Center, September 11, 1962. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="9801807" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9801807-380x307.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9801807-760x614.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.81052631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611817.jpg" data-image-caption="A thermometer in his mouth, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., watches as the astronaut's personal physician, Lt. Col. William K. Douglas, checks his blood pressure in Cape Canaveral, May 5, 1961. Shepard and his backup pilot, John H. Glenn, Jr., were given final physical examinations this morning at Cape Canaveral before Shepard took off on America's first manned space flight. (AP Photo)" data-image-copyright="pa-8611817" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611817-380x308.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611817-760x616.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.77631578947368" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-18853_0.jpg" data-image-caption="On April 9, 1959, NASA's first administrator, Dr. Keith Glennan, announced the names of the agency's first group of astronauts at a news conference in Washington, D.C. Now known as the "Original Seven," they included three Naval aviators, M. Scott Carpenter, Walter M. Schirra Jr., and Alan B. Shepard Jr.; three Air Force pilots, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom, and Donald K. (Deke) Slayton; along with Marine Corps aviator John H. Glenn Jr. This group photo of the original Mercury astronauts was taken in June 1963 at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas. The astronauts are, left to right: Cooper, Schirra, Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Slayton and Carpenter. Project Mercury became NASA's first major undertaking. The objectives of the program were to place a human-rated spacecraft into orbit around Earth, observe the astronauts' performance in such conditions and safely recover the astronaut and the spacecraft. The Mercury flights proved that humans could live and work in space, and paved the way for the Gemini and Apollo programs as well as for all further human spaceflight. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="s63-18853_0" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-18853_0-380x295.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-18853_0-760x590.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.93552631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/SHEPARD-Alan-Bartlett-Jr.-CAPT-USN-NASA-Astronaut-geology-training-1970.jpg" data-image-caption="November 1970: Apollo 14 NASA astronaut Alan Shepard in Arizona." data-image-copyright="November 1970: Apollo 14 NASA Astronauts Alan Shepard IN Arizona." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/SHEPARD-Alan-Bartlett-Jr.-CAPT-USN-NASA-Astronaut-geology-training-1970-380x356.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/SHEPARD-Alan-Bartlett-Jr.-CAPT-USN-NASA-Astronaut-geology-training-1970-760x711.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.98684210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535509main_EarthObservations_full.jpg" data-image-caption="On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. had a view of Earth that no American had seen before, looking down on the home planet from the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule on his history-making suborbital flight. The 15-minute flight lifted him to an altitude of over 116 miles and a maximum speed of 5,134 miles per hour. During the flight, Shepard reported seeing the outlines of the west coast of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, along with Florida's Lake Okeechobee." data-image-copyright="535509main_earthobservations_full" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535509main_EarthObservations_full-380x375.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535509main_EarthObservations_full-760x750.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2624584717608" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard_Alan_Bartlett_Jr.jpg" data-image-caption="Rear Admiral Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., United States Navy" data-image-copyright="Rear Admiral Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., United States Navy" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard_Alan_Bartlett_Jr-301x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard_Alan_Bartlett_Jr-602x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78552631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6-as14-66-9231b.jpg" data-image-caption="Alan Shepard plants the American flag on the moon." data-image-copyright="Alan Shepard plants the American flag on the moon" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6-as14-66-9231b-380x298.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6-as14-66-9231b-760x597.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65789473684211" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/img249.jpg" data-image-caption="Alan Shepard strides across the deck of the U.S. Navy Carrier Champlain after a post-flight inspection of his Freedom 7 space capsule. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="img249" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/img249-380x250.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/img249-760x500.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3475177304965" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-B.-The-Astronauts-Cover-of-Life-Magazine-Sept.-14-1959.jpg" data-image-caption="September 14, 1959: LIFE magazine, "First-person Reports by the Astronauts: Start of Continuing Exclusive Stories on Epochal Mission"" data-image-copyright="shepard-alan-b-the-astronauts-cover-of-life-magazine-sept-14-1959" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-B.-The-Astronauts-Cover-of-Life-Magazine-Sept.-14-1959-282x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shepard-Alan-B.-The-Astronauts-Cover-of-Life-Magazine-Sept.-14-1959-564x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.76842105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-55387.jpg" data-image-caption="These three astronauts are the prime crew of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission. They are Alan B. Shepard Jr., center, commander; Stuart A. Roosa, left, command module pilot; and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot. The Apollo 14 emblem is in the background. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="s70-55387" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-55387-380x292.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-55387-760x584.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0146862483311" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776644.jpg" data-image-caption="Alan Shepard and his wife, Louise, after he received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal from President Kennedy in Washington, D.C. The couple poses at the foot of a plane at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland on May 8, 1961, preparing to take them to Langley Field, Virginia. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis)" data-image-copyright="pa-8776644" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776644-375x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776644-749x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.775" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6230331.jpg" data-image-caption="This week in 1962, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Dr. Wernher von Braun met with five astronauts and Brainerd Holmes, NASA associate administrator for Manned Space Flight, at Marshall. From left are Elliot See, Tom Stafford, Wally Schirra, John Glenn, Holmes, von Braun and Jim Lovell. NASA officials and astronauts often traveled to Marshall to meet with von Braun. The NASA History Program documents and preserves NASA’s remarkable history through a variety of products — photos, press kits, press releases, mission transcripts and administrators' speeches. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the History Program’s Web page. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="6230331" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6230331-380x295.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/6230331-760x589.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.775" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/gpn-2000-001659.jpg" data-image-caption="President John F. Kennedy congratulates astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., the first American in space, on his historic May 5, 1961 ride in the Freedom 7 spacecraft, and presents him with the NASA Distinguished Service Award. The ceremony took place on the White House lawn. Shepard's wife, Louise (left in white dress and hat), and his mother were in attendance as well as the other six Mercury astronauts and NASA officals, some visible in the background. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="gpn-2000-001659" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/gpn-2000-001659-380x295.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/gpn-2000-001659-760x589.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.25" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s62-08774.jpg" data-image-caption="On April 9, 1959, NASA introduced its first astronaut class, the Mercury 7. Front row, left to right: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="s62-08774" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s62-08774-304x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s62-08774-608x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2666666666667" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Alan_shepard.jpg" data-image-caption="Alan B. Shepard, May 5, 1961" data-image-copyright="Alan B. ShepardDate 5 May 1961" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Alan_shepard-300x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Alan_shepard-600x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75526315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535479main_recovery_full.jpg" data-image-caption="A Marine helicopter picks up Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard and his Freedom 7 capsule in the Atlantic Ocean after his first American sub-orbital flight on May 5, 1961. Engineers said the spacecraft was in such great shape it could be reused. Doctors said Shepard could be used again too. Only 11 minutes after landing, he was onboard the U.S. Navy carrier Lake Champlain, where he took a congratulatory phone call from President Kennedy. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="535479main_recovery_full" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535479main_recovery_full-380x287.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535479main_recovery_full-760x574.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2179487179487" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s61-00239.jpg" data-image-caption="1961: Mercury astronauts John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil I. Grissom and Alan B. Shepard Jr. standing by the Redstone rocket in their spacesuits. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="s61-00239" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s61-00239-312x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s61-00239-624x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.56842105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/alan-shepherd-yearbook-1.jpg" data-image-caption="Alan Bartlett Shepard Junior's Navy Academy yearbook." data-image-copyright="Alan Bartlett Shepard Junior's Navy Academy Yearboo" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/alan-shepherd-yearbook-1-380x216.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/alan-shepherd-yearbook-1-760x432.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2438625204583" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9460616788_d08d4ae81b_o.jpg" data-image-caption="Profile of astronaut Alan Shepard in his silver pressure suit with the helmet visor closed as he prepares for his upcoming Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) launch. On May 5,1961, Alan B. Shepard Jr. became the first American to fly into space. His Freedom 7 Mercury capsule flew a suborbital trajectory lasting 15 minutes, 22 seconds. His spacecraft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, where he and Freedom 7 were recovered by helicopter and transported to the awaiting aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lake Champlain." data-image-copyright="Alan Shepard in Space Suit before Mercury Launch" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9460616788_d08d4ae81b_o-306x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9460616788_d08d4ae81b_o-611x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5230460921844" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-17356.jpg" data-image-caption="January 1971: Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. and his family. Shepard is the commander of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission. The family includes Mrs. Shepard, the former Louise Brewer; Laura Shepard Snyder (seated on Shepard's left), born on July 2, 1947; Julie Shepard (right foreground), born on March 16, 1951; and Alice Shepard (left foreground), a niece of Mrs. Shepard." data-image-copyright="s71-17356" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-17356-249x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s71-17356-499x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2730318257956" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535495main_Mercuryliftoff_full.jpg" data-image-caption="In this view, the Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) spacecraft carrying Alan Shepard in Freedom 7 is already headed towards its suborbital maneuver, shortly after lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="535495main_mercuryliftoff_full" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535495main_Mercuryliftoff_full-298x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/535495main_Mercuryliftoff_full-597x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65394736842105" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-06268.jpg" data-image-caption="May 5, 1961: President John F. Kennedy awards astronaut Alan Shepard the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his first American manned space flight on the Mercury Freedom 7 mission, at the White House." data-image-copyright="s63-06268" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-06268-380x249.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s63-06268-760x497.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.20826709062" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/17871040763_56dec65b83_o.jpg" data-image-caption="April 20, 1961: Close-up view of astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. in his pressure suit, with helmet opened, for the Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) flight, the first American human spaceflight. (NASA) " data-image-copyright="17871040763_56dec65b83_o" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/17871040763_56dec65b83_o-314x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/17871040763_56dec65b83_o-629x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.80526315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776607.jpg" data-image-caption="Navy Commander Alan Shepard and his wife pose with Vice President Lyndon Johnson as they leave the White House for the Capitol in Washington on May 8, 1961. Approximately 250,000 persons lined downtown Washington streets to pay tribute to Shepard, first American to make a space flight. At the Capitol, Shepard and other astronauts were greeted by members of Congress. (AP Photo)" data-image-copyright="pa-8776607" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776607-380x306.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776607-760x612.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/257705main_as14-66-9233_full.jpg" data-image-caption="Astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14 lunar module pilot, stands by the deployed U.S. flag on the lunar surface during the early moments of the mission's first spacewalk. He was photographed by astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., mission commander. While astronauts Shepard and Mitchell descended in the lunar module "Antares" to explore the Fra Mauro region of the moon, astronaut Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, remained with the command and service module "Kitty Hawk" in lunar orbit. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="257705main_as14-66-9233_full" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/257705main_as14-66-9233_full-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/257705main_as14-66-9233_full-760x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-19764.jpg" data-image-caption="September 18, 1970: Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. (right), commander, and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot, are suited up for a manned altitude run in the Apollo 14 lunar module (LM). The manned run in a vacuum chamber of the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building was conducted to validate the LM's communications and guidance and navigation systems. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="s70-19764" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-19764-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s70-19764-760x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67368421052632" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776659.jpg" data-image-caption="Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., the first American to make a space flight, relaxes beside a pool at a Cocoa Beach Hotel in Cape Canaveral, Florida on July 16, 1961. Mrs. Louise Shepard reads a book in the background. This week a second astronaut will duplicate Shepard's feat by making a suborbital flight from Cape Canaveral aboard a Mercury spacecraft atop a Redstone rocket. (AP Photo/Murray Becker" data-image-copyright="pa-8776659" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776659-380x256.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776659-760x512.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.81578947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776619.jpg" data-image-caption="Almost beside herself with glee, Mrs. Alan Shepard, left, wife of the famous astronaut, as she appeared on the front porch of her Virginia Beach home after the word had come that her husband was safe. With her are her mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Brewer, Alice Williams, a niece, and her daughter Juliana in Norfolk on May 5, 1961. (AP Photo/Bill Allen)" data-image-copyright="pa-8776619" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776619-380x310.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776619-760x620.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0092961487384" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Kennedy_Johnson_and_others_watching_flight_of_Astronaut_Shepard_on_television_05_May_1961.jpg" data-image-caption="Kennedy, Johnson, and others watching flight of astronaut Alan Shepard on television, May 5, 1961." data-image-copyright="kennedy_johnson_and_others_watching_flight_of_astronaut_shepard_on_television_05_may_1961" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Kennedy_Johnson_and_others_watching_flight_of_Astronaut_Shepard_on_television_05_May_1961-377x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Kennedy_Johnson_and_others_watching_flight_of_Astronaut_Shepard_on_television_05_May_1961-753x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66052631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776608.jpg" data-image-caption="Astronaut Alan Shepard, the United States's first spaceman, waves to crowds lining 15th Street as he sits with his wife Louise in an open car during a parade from the White House to the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on May 8, 1961. Other U.S. astronauts follow in the parade. (AP Photo)" data-image-copyright="pa-8776608" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776608-380x251.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776608-760x502.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0201342281879" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776626-1.jpg" data-image-caption="Mrs. Louise Shepard, wife of the first U.S. astronaut to make a space flight, Alan Shepard, admires the NASA Distinguished Service Medal given Shepard by President Kennedy as Washington honored the spaceman. The couple poses at foot of ramp to plane at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland on May 8, 1961, taking them to Langley Field, Virginia. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis)" data-image-copyright="pa-8776626-1" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776626-1-372x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8776626-1-745x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.1242603550296" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9248359.jpg" data-image-caption="Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. during suiting for first manned suborbital flight on MR-3 (Mercury-Redstone), Freedom 7, on May 5, 1961. (MIX FILE)" data-image-copyright="9248359" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9248359-338x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/9248359-676x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.80921052631579" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611688.jpg" data-image-caption="Astronauts during survival training in the Mohave desert in an undated photo. From left to right are L. Gordon Cooper, M. Scott Carpenter, John H. Glenn, Jr., Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. Grissom, Walter M. Shirra and Donald K. Slayton. (AP Photo)" data-image-copyright="pa-8611688" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611688-380x307.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PA-8611688-760x615.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.003963011889" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/337357main_pg95_AS14-68-9405_full.jpg" data-image-caption="Mission commander Alan Shepard assembles a double core tube. Astronauts Shepard and lunar module pilot Edgar D. Mitchell, who took this photograph, explored the lunar surface while astronaut Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, orbited the moon. (NASA)" data-image-copyright="337357main_pg95_as14-68-9405_full" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/337357main_pg95_AS14-68-9405_full-378x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/337357main_pg95_AS14-68-9405_full-757x760.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-twitter" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Twitter"><i class="icon-icon_twitter-circle"></i></a></li>  <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-email" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever via Email"><i class="icon-icon_email-circle"></i></a></li> </ul> <time class="editorial-article__last-updated sans-6">This page last revised on August 9, 2019</time> <div class="sans-4"><a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/how-to-cite" target="_blank">How to cite this page</a></div> </footer> </div> <div class="container interview-related-achievers"> <hr class="m-t-3 m-b-3"/> <footer class="clearfix small-blocks text-xs-center"> <h3 class="m-b-3 serif-3">If you are inspired by this achiever’s story, you might also enjoy:</h3> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever science-exploration science-exploration analytical explore-the-world " data-year-inducted="1990" data-achiever-name="Ballard"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-d-ballard-ph-d/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/ballard-achiever-square-760-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/01/ballard-achiever-square-760-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Robert D. 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Doudna, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rita Dove</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/sylvia-earle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/elbaradei/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mohamed ElBaradei</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/larry-j-ellison/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry J. Ellison</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/nora-ephron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nora Ephron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/julius-erving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Julius Erving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/tony-fadell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tony Fadell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-farmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Farmer, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzanne-farrell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzanne Farrell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-s-fauci-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/lord-norman-foster/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Norman Foster</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/aretha-franklin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Aretha Franklin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/peter-gabriel/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peter Gabriel</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/leymah-gbowee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leymah Gbowee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/murray-gell-mann-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-ghosn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Ghosn</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol W. Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-john-gurdon/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir John Gurdon</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/demis-hassabis-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/kazuo-ishiguro/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Kazuo Ishiguro</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/beverly-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Beverly Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/dereck-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dereck Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-kagame/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Kagame</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Lederman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-b-maccready-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul B. MacCready, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernst-mayr-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/reinhold-messner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reinhold Messner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-panetta/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Panetta</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/itzhak-perlman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Itzhak Perlman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/venki-ramakrishnan-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/lord-martin-rees/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Martin Rees</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/cal-ripken-jr/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Cal Ripken Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/sonny-rollins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonny Rollins</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20210119062036/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-romero/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony D. 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