Alan Shepard

Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space, and in 1971, he walked on the Moon. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Shepard saw action with the surface navy during World War II. He became a naval aviator in 1946, and a test pilot in 1950. 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. His craft entered space, but was not capable of achieving orbit. 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. In the final stages of Project Mercury, Shepard was scheduled to pilot the Mercury-Atlas 10, which was planned as a three-day mission.

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50 years ago, Alan Shepard shanked the first golf shot on the Moon into a crater, but estimated his second traveled about 600 feet (recent research suggests it was closer to 120 feet). Meanwhile, a regular swing (on Earth) by an average PGA Tour pro would send a lunar tee shot about 4,170 feet.

Astronaut Alan Shepard's Corvette at Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale auction

Astronaut Alan Shepard's daughter says she's excited to follow him to space

Alan Shepard’s Daughter Will be Flying on the Next New Shepard Flight

Astronaut Alan Shepard’s daughter and Michael Strahan named to spaceflight

Alan Shepard's daughter to repeat astronaut's history-making flight

Alan Shepard was 47 during Apollo 14 and was told he was "too old" to walk on the moon as he was the oldest astronaut to have flown in space at the time. He hadn't flown anything for ten years since 1961 and had been diagnosed with a rare condition of the inner ear called Meniere's disease

60 Years Ago: Alan Shepard Becomes the First American in Space

60 years ago, Alan Shepard became the first American in space.

Shepard put golf on the moon 50 years ago. Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard and his crew brought back about 90 pounds of moon rocks on Feb. 6, 1971. Left behind were two golf balls that Shepard, who later described the moon's surface as "one big sand trap," hit with a makeshift 6-iron.

Apollo 14 blasted off to the Moon 50 years ago this weekend. The mission involved about 9 hours of moonwalks, and it culminated with Commander Alan Shepard dropping a golf ball in the powdery regolith before smacking it with his soil-sampling tool. “Miles and miles,” he beamed afterwords.