Alan B.  Shepard Jr. (1923-1998)

CAREER

1941-1944: Student US Naval Academ

1944-1945: Ensign, on the destroyer USS Cogswell (DD-561) deployed in the Pacific

1945-1947: Naval aviator flight training

1947 – 1948: Naval aviator and Instructor with the Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Cecil Field, Jacksonville, Florida; Fleet Airborne Electronics Training Unit, NAS Norfolk Virginia and Fighter Squadron 4B then 42 completing tours in the Mediterranean

1950-1951: Attended and graduated US Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland

1951-1957: Completed two tours at the AirTestCenter interspersed , between 1953 and 1956 with service as Operations Officer Fighter Squadron 193, Moffett Field, California., a night fighter unit where he completed two trips to the Western Pacific aboard the carrier Oriskany. Whilst serving as a test pilot Shepard participated in trials of Naval in-flight refuelling and the first angled deck for aircraft carriers as well as carrier suitability trials for the F2H3 Banshee and testing the F3H Demon, F8U Crusader, F4D Skyray, and F11F Tigercat, and served as Project Test Pilot on the F5D Skylancer

1957-1959: Attended Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island; in 1958 served as Aircraft Readiness Officer, on the Staff of the Commander In Chief, US Atlantic Fleet

ASTRONAUT ASSIGNMENTS

1959:   (09.04) Selected as one of seven original Mercury NASA Astronauts; Mercury training; (Jul) CB technical assignment - tracking and recovery operations; Mercury training

1960:   Mercury training

1961:   Mercury training; (21.02) identified  but not made public as prime Pilot for first suborbital mission; Mercury training; (02.05) publicly identified as first American in space after first launch attempt was scrubbed due to weather; (05.05) flew as Pilot Mercury Redstone 3 (MR3) Freedom 7,  suborbital mission, 15 min 28 sec; First American In Space; (Jul) Capcom MR-4 (Grissom);

1962:   Mercury training; (Feb) Capcom MA-6 (Glenn); (May) Capcom MA-7 (Carpenter); (Oct) Capcom MA-8 (Schirra); (13.11) named BUp Pilot MA-9 (Cooper); Mercury training

1963:   (26.01)  speciality assignment in CB – Pilot phases of Project Mercury; Mercury training; (May ) BUp Pilot MA-9; was prime candidate for assignment to the subsequently cancelled three-day MA-10; (May) tentative diagnosed with Ménière’s disease temporary grounded; (Jun) MA-10 cancelled as unnecessary; (Jul)  restored  flight status and informed he would be Command Pilot Gemini 3, first manned flight of series; (Oct) medical diagnosis confirmed and he was grounded again , loosing GT3; (Nov) named Chief Astronaut Office, MSC

1964: Chief CB

1965: Chief CB

1966: Chief CB

1967: Chief CB

1968: Chief CB; (second half) corrective surgery

1969: Chief CB; (Mar) restored to full flight status; (Jun) assigned Commander Apollo 13; assignment rejected by NASA HQ; reassigned Commander Apollo 14; (06.08) named Commander Apollo 14; replaced as Chief CB for the duration of Apollo 14 assignment by Tom Stafford; Apollo mission  training

1970:   Apollo mission training

1971:   Apollo mission training; (31 01-09.02) flew as Commander Apollo 14, 3^rd manned lunar landing mission; 5^th man to walk on the Moon (and only Mercury astronaut to get there); 2 EVAs (09hr 24 min) EVA1 (05.02) 4 hr 49 min, EVA2 (06.02) 4 hr 35 min; 33 hrs 39 minutes on the Moon; (Jun) resumed role as Chief CB, replacing Stafford

1972:   Chief CB

1973:   Chief CB and fulfilled additional role (thru 1974) as Director FCOD standing in for Deke Slayton who was in training for ASTP

1974:   Chief CB (31.07) retried US Navy with rank of Rear Admiral and from NASA

SPACEFLIGHT RECORD

POST ASTRONAUT EXPERIENCE

1974 – 1998:   In private business serving as Partner and Chairman of Marathon Construction Company; Houston; President Windwood Distributing Company; founded his own business Seven Fourteen Enterprises named after his two spaceflights; 1984-1995 co-founder Mercury Seven Foundation; 1995-1997 organisation renamed Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, elected present and chairman until turning over both positions to Jim Lovell

Jul 21 1998: Died after a lengthy illness, aged 74