Alan
Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was born in East Derry, New
Hampshire in 1923. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy
in 1944. After graduation he served as an ensign in the navy and saw
service on a destroyer during World War II.
Shepard graduated from the Navy Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland and from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
He was selected as one of America's first seven astronauts in 1959. On May 5, 1961 he became the first American to travel in space. Shepard traveled aboard the space capsule Freedom 7. His 15 minute flight reached a height of 115 miles. In 1971 he traveled to the moon aboard the Apollo 14 craft.
He spent nearly 34 hours on the lunar surface. Alan Shepard left NASA in 1974.
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