alan+shepard

Background information Alan Sheperd was a former navy test pilot. He was one of the 7 astronauts chosen for the mercury program.He was the first American into space on May 5 1961. He took this adventure into space with a shuttle called the Freedom 7. The team stayed up in space for 15 minutes. Later he was the first American to orbit the entire the globe in space. Ham the Chimp was the first primate in space. The flight made Alan a hero. He was disqualified from early moon missions because of an inner ear problem. He persisted and eventually was in command of Apollo 5. In 1971 Shepard and Edgar Mitchell landing on the moon, becoming the 5th and 6 men into space. Shepard was born in East Derry, New Hampshire. His father was a retired army officer. He grew up on his family's farm and attended a one room schoolhouse. As a boy he did odd jobs at an air field to learn more about airplanes. Alan was a great student, After graduation he served on the destroyer Cogswell during the end of World War 2. At the end of the war he married Louise Brewer who he met while attending the naval academy. Alan was very eager to recieve his pilots license. He studied it in his spare time.



contributions to the Earth

As you know Mr Shepard was the first U.S man into space. He was supposed to have been on board the Apollo 13 which sadly failed and barely made it back to Earth. Alan was full of Confidence and was extremely brave and determined. He is an example of a good character. He was also getting old at the age of 47. 10 years after his first suborbital flight into space, he overcame a serious ear infection and returned to space for his second and last flight to the moon. Alan Shepard spent 33 hours on the moon during the third lunar landing mission. He was also the only lunar golfer. Alan, Edgar Mitchell, and Stuart Roosa spent 9 days in space. Mitchell and Shepard spent two days on the moon. They gatherd rock samples and they also conducted experiments. In addition, the astronauts left behind a muliti million mini scientific station that continued to send messages to scientists on earth. After they came down to earth, which by the way was 240,000 miles they landed with a huge splash near Samoa in the South Pacific on Feburary 9. By every means the voyage to the moon was a huge success. Alan Shepard will be rememberd as an American Hero of the moon. Oh and by the way Mr carpenter i added that last sentence, i didnt get it off a site!
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Later on in the life of Mr Shepard

Alan Shepard spent a total time of 216 hours and 57 mins in space throughout the time of his life. Alan Shepard was a businessman, and was the first astronaut to become a millionaire while still in the program. In 1994 he published a book with two journalists, Jay Barbree and Howard Benedict. The name of this book is called Moon Shot: The Inside Story of Americas Race to The Moon. Deke Slayton is also one of the other authors of this book, but he died before the project was completed and was an author in name only. The book created some controversies because it deliberately showed fake photos of Alan hitting a golf ball on the moon. Shepard died of Leukemia at the age of 53 near his home in Pebble Beach, California on July 21 1998, only two years after Mr Shepard was diagnosed with that disease. His wife Louise Brewer, age 53, died 5 weeks after that. Both of them were cremated and their ashes were spread over the sea. The two had three daughters Laura, born in 1947, Juliana born in 1951, and Alice who was born the same year as Juliana. Alice was acuatly Louises niece, but they raised her as their own daughter. Alan also had 6 grandchildren. Each year, the Space Foundation, who cooperaters with Astronauts Memorial Foundation (AMF) present Alan Shepards technology in Education award for his outstanding contributions. The award recognizes the great and application of technology in the classroom or to the professional development of teachers. Alan shepard was a brave man who had a great life, it shouldve been longer but he had a fullfilling one. He will always be remember for being the first man in space and a good family man. Plus his children and grandchildren are wicked rich and dont have to worry about anything. lucky them.... but no seriously he's a cool guy, and thats all i have to say on this topic.