Profile of the Day: Alan Shepard, Jr.
On May 5, 1961 Alan Shepard, Jr. became the first American astronaut in space. Shepard made his flight three weeks after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made the first orbital spaceflight. In 1969, Shepard commanded the Apollo 14 mission and became the fifth person to walk on the Moon.
View Alan Shepard’s Geni Profile