One of its first initiatives was publicly announced on December 17, 1958. He also bought a partnership in a ranch in Weatherford, Texas, that raised horses and cattle. This was not unusual; many aircraft did this, but normally if the pilot let go of the stick the aircraft would correct itself.
Those who were not were given the opportunity to qualify for night landings on a carrier, a dangerous maneuver, especially in a Corsair, which had to bank sharply on approach. [31] As a test pilot he conducted high-altitude tests to obtain information about the light and air masses at different altitudes over North America; carrier suitability certification of the McDonnell F2H Banshee; experiments with the Navy's new in-flight refueling system; and tests of the angled flight deck. The squadron was nominally based on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, but the ship was being overhauled at the time Shepard arrived, and in the meantime the squadron was based at Naval Air Station Norfolk in Virginia. In 1957, he was project test pilot on the Douglas F5D Skylancer. 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. [12] During his Christmas break in 1942, he went to Principia College to be with his sister, who was unable to go home owing to wartime travel restrictions. [18][26], In November 1945, Shepard arrived at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, where he commenced basic flight training on January 7, 1946. Shepard did not like the plane, and gave it an unfavorable report. [90], Shepard was designated Chief of the Astronaut Office in November 1963. When he attempted this in the F7U, Shepard found this was not the case. [6] Fascinated by flight, he created a model airplane club at the Academy, and his Christmas present in 1938 was a flight in a Douglas DC-3. So Slayton asked Jim Lovell, who had been the backup commander for Apollo 11, and was slated to command Apollo 14, if his crew would be willing to fly Apollo 13 instead. He was sent to Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida for advanced training.
He also instituted a ritual of, whenever he could, calling Louise at 17:00 (her time) each day. [134] At the time of the Freedom 7 launch, Shepard lived in Virginia Beach. Rear Admiral Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. [70] Unlike Gagarin, whose flight was strictly automatic, Shepard had some control of Freedom 7, spacecraft attitude in particular. He squeezed out of the door and into a sling hoist, and was pulled into the helicopter, which flew both the astronaut and spacecraft to the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain. 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. Shepard was elected its first president and chairman, positions he held until October 1997, when he was succeeded by former astronaut Jim Lovell. It became a joke between Shepard and Lovell, who would offer to give Shepard back the mission each time they bumped into each other. He provided and coordinated astronaut input into mission planning and the design of spacecraft and other equipment to be used by astronauts on space missions. They conceded that it would be a hazardous undertaking, but emphasized that it was of great national importance.
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. [20] After the war, they had two children, both daughters: Laura, born in 1947,[21] and Julie, born in 1951. They were concerned about their careers, but decided to volunteer. [9][10], Shepard graduated from Pinkerton Academy in 1940.
[73], After a dramatic Atlantic Ocean recovery, Shepard observed that he "... didn't really feel the flight was a success until the recovery had been successfully completed. [82] Shepard went as far as making a personal appeal to President Kennedy, but to no avail. [101] Shepard's widow Louise resolved to cremate his remains and scatter the ashes, but she died from a heart attack on August 25, 1998, at 17:00, the time at which he had always called her. 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. [83], Shepard was devoted to his children. [2] He had a younger sister, Pauline, who was known as Polly. [83], Shepard and Slayton put Shepard down to command the next available Moon mission, which was Apollo 13 in 1970. One of its first initiatives was publicly announced on December 17, 1958. [6] He achieved the Boy Scouts of America rank of First Class Scout. Shepard asked for Jim McDivitt as his Lunar Module Pilot, but McDivitt, who had already commanded the Apollo 9 mission, balked at the prospect, arguing that Shepard did not have sufficient Apollo training to command a Moon mission.
[138], In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Shepard was ranked as the ninth most popular space hero (tied with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Gus Grissom).
He would come out of the airplane with his eyes dancing. An X-ray found a lump on his thyroid, and on January 17, 1964, surgeons at Hermann Hospital made an incision on his throat and removed 20 percent of his thyroid. [3] He was one of many famous descendants of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. He easily passed the entrance exam to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1940, but at sixteen was too young to enter that year. [94] Tom Wolfe characterized Shepard's dual personalities as "Smilin' Al" and the "Icy Commander". Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. was born on November 18, 1923, in Derry, New Hampshire,[1] to Alan B. Shepard Sr. and Pauline Renza Shepard (née Emerson). This was Project Mercury,[42] which aimed to launch a man into Earth orbit, return him safely to the Earth, and evaluate his capabilities in space. [57] On January 19, 1961, Robert R. Gilruth, the director of NASA's Space Task Group, informed the seven astronauts that Shepard had been chosen for the first American crewed mission into space. If he then stepped into his Corvette—well, then, there you had it: the picture of the perfect Fighter Jock Away from Home. [63] When Shepard heard the news he slammed his fist down on a table so hard a NASA public relations officer feared he might have broken his hand. [51], Shepard was informed of his selection on April 1, 1959. [30], Normally sea duty alternated with periods of duty ashore. The following day, he received his naval aviator wings, which his father pinned on his chest. [136] Alan B. Shepard High School, in Palos Heights, Illinois, which opened in 1976, was named in his honor. [88][89] The condition caused Shepard to be removed from flight status. He also participated in swimming, and rowed with the eight. [85] After the Mercury-Atlas 10 mission was canceled, Shepard was designated as the commander of the first crewed Gemini mission, with Thomas P. Stafford chosen as his pilot. [86] In late 1963, Shepard began to experience episodes of extreme dizziness and nausea, accompanied by a loud, clanging noise in the left ear. This left NASA with 32 candidates. To make up for this, he took private lessons at a local civilian flying school—something the Navy frowned on—earning a civil pilot's license.
[4] He remained in the National Guard between the wars, and was recalled to active duty during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
The director of the NASA Space Task Group, Robert R. Gilruth, found himself unable to select only six from the remaining eighteen, and ultimately seven were chosen. After Shepard's flight, NASA called in the space suit's manufacturer, B. F. Goodrich, and by the time of John Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 orbital flight the following year, a liquid waste collection feature had been built into the suit. That evening, Shepard discussed the day's events with fellow naval aviators Jim Lovell, Pete Conrad and Wally Schirra, all of whom would eventually become astronauts. According to Gene Kranz in his book Failure Is Not an Option, "When reporters asked Shepard what he thought about as he sat atop the Redstone rocket, waiting for liftoff, he had replied, 'The fact that every part of this ship was built by the lowest bidder.
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