Profile of the Day: Alan Shepard

Astronaut Alan Shepard was born on November 18, 1923. Shepard made history in 1961 when he became the first American to travel into space.

Image: Alan Shepard / NASA

Shepard was born in East Derry, New Hampshire to Alan Shepard, Sr.and Pauline Renza Emerson. Shepard was fascinated with flying from an early age. He graduated from the U.S. Navel Academy and served onboard the destroyer Cogswell during World War II. After the war, he became a test pilot for the Navy.

In 1959, Shepard was selected as one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts by NASA. On May 5, 1961, Shepard made history by becoming the first American to travel into space. He made a suborbital flight aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft, which lasted for about 15 minutes.

Ten years later, Shepard returned to space as the commander of the Apollo 14 mission to the moon. During the mission, he became the fifth person to set foot on the moon and the first person to play golf on its surface. An avid golfer, Shepard had brought aboard a six iron golf club head and two golf balls.

Shepard died on July 21, 1998 at the age of 74.

Explore Alan Shepard’s family tree on Geni and share how you’re related to the astronaut.

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