Shepard, Alan B. (Alan Bartlett), 1923-1998

American Astronaut. The first American into space, he is currently the oldest man to have walked on the moon. Born in Derry, New Hampshire, the son of Army Lieutenant Colonel Alan B. Shepard and Renza Emerson Shepard, Alan Jr graduated from the Admiral Farragut Academy (military high school) in 1941, and received a BS degree in Engineering from the US Naval Academy in 1944. Graduating in the middle of World War II, he was immediately assigned to the destroyer USS Cogswell, and was deployed to the Pacific Ocean. On March 3, 1945, he married Louise Brewer of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, whom he had met while at the Naval Academy; they would have two daughters: Laura and Juliana. In addition, he would raise a niece, Alice. After the war, he applied for flight training, and received his pilot's wings in 1947. He was then assigned to Fighter Squadron 42 at Norfolk, Virginia, and later to several aircraft carriers. In 1950, he graduated from the US Navy's Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland, and worked on several high-altitude tests to determine the nature of air flow and air mass at high altitudes. He later joined VF-193 Squadron at Moffett Field, California, as the operations officer, and made two tours of the Pacific aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. Following a tour as instructor in the Test Pilot School, he attended the Naval War College at Newport, RI. In April 1959, he was one of the first pilots to be selected by NASA for Project Mercury, and was the first American sent into space on May 5, 1961 on the Freedom 7 spacecraft. In early 1964, Shepard was diagnosed with Meniere's disease, which resulted in his removal from flight status, although he continued to work with NASA, developing astronaut training programs and evaluating flight equipment. Following corrective surgery in May 1969, he was restored to flight status and initially assigned to command Apollo 13. Feeling he needed more training time, he postponed his flight to Apollo 14, and at age 47, made the third trip to the moon, and becoming the oldest man to step foot on the moon, as well as setting the then current record for the longest stay on the moon (33 hours). Shepard is also remembered for sneaking a golf club and several balls to the moon, becoming the first to play golf there; although he hooked his first shot, his second hit went for an estimated 2 miles in the moon's lesser gravity. Shepard was promoted to Rear Admiral in June 1971 and retired from the Navy (and NASA) on August 1, 1974. A shrewd businessman, Shepard also holds the distinction of being the first astronaut to become a millionaire while in the program. The holder of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross, the US Navy honored him by naming a ship, the USS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3), and New Hampshire honored him by naming a portion of Interstate 93 through Derry, New Hampshire (his birthplace) the Alan B. Shepard Highway, and the local Derry post office after him. In 1988, Shepard and astronaut Deke Slayton wrote "Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon" about their careers. In 1996, Shepard was diagnosed with leukemia, and died near his home in Pebble Beach, California at the age of 74. His wife, Louise Brewer Shepard, died five weeks afterwards. Their ashes were scattered from a helicopter hovering over Stillwater Cove near their home in Pebble Beach, Califonria. There is a cenotaph for the couple at Forest Hill Cemetery in East Derry, New Hampshire.

Rear Admiral Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the first American to travel into space, and in 1971, he walked on the Moon.

A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Shepard saw action with the surface navy during World War II. He became a naval aviator in 1946, and a test pilot in 1950. He was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts in 1959, and in May 1961 he made the first crewed Project Mercury flight, Mercury-Redstone 3, in a spacecraft he named Freedom 7. His craft entered space, but was not capable of achieving orbit. He became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space, and the first space traveler to manually control the orientation of his craft. In the final stages of Project Mercury, Shepard was scheduled to pilot the Mercury-Atlas 10 (MA-10), which was planned as a three-day mission. He named Mercury Spacecraft 15B Freedom 7 II in honor of his first spacecraft, but the mission was canceled.

Shepard was designated as the commander of the first crewed Project Gemini mission, but was grounded in 1963 due to Ménière's disease, an inner-ear ailment that caused episodes of extreme dizziness and nausea. This was surgically corrected in 1969, and in 1971, Shepard commanded the Apollo 14 mission, piloting the Apollo Lunar Module Antares to the most accurate landing of the Apollo missions. At age 47, he became the fifth, the oldest, and the earliest-born person to walk on the Moon, and the only one of the Mercury Seven astronauts to do so. During the mission, he hit two golf balls on the lunar surface.

Shepard was Chief of the Astronaut Office from November 1963 to July 1969 (the approximate period of his grounding), and from June 1971 until his retirement from the United States Navy and NASA on August 1, 1974. He was promoted to rear admiral on August 25, 1971, the first astronaut to reach that rank.