Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard was an American astronaut who was born on November 18, 1923, in New Hampshire. Before he became an astronaut, Shepard was a Navy test pilot. He logged over 8000 hours of flight time.

Shepard became an astronaut in 1959. He has spent over 216 hours in space on two spaceflights.

In 1961, Shepard became the first American astronaut in space when he flew aboard Mercury 3. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 116 miles on a 15-minute flight. In 1971, Shepard commanded Apollo 14. He and fellow astronaut Ed Mitchell walked on the surface of the moon for 9 hours. Shepard also became the first person to golf on the moon!

Shepard left NASA in 1974.



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