Alan Shepard
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in Apollo, Space, Alan Shepard, Missions‘It’s Been A Long Way’: Remembering the Return of the Rookie, 50 Years On
Fifty years ago, as the United States and the world stood on the cusp of launching the first humans to the surface of another world, a strange thing happened. By May 1969, three astronauts had already reached and circled the Moon, another three were only days away from conducting a full dress rehearsal of the […] More
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“What a Beautiful View”: Remembering America’s First Man in Space, OTD in 1961
In the half-hour between 9:30 and 10 a.m. EDT on this day in 1961, the United States came literally to a standstill. A Philadelphia appeals court judge interrupted all proceedings to make an announcement; free champagne flowed in taverns; traffic slowed on California freeways; and people danced and sang in Times Square. Even the new […] More
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in NASA, Space, Alan Shepard‘Beautiful View’: Remembering America’s First Manned Mission to Space, 57 Years Ago This Week
In the half-hour between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Eastern Time on 5 May 1961, the United States came, quite literally, to a standstill. A Philadelphia appeals court judge interrupted all proceedings to make an announcement, whilst free champagne—even at this hour—flowing freely in taverns, and traffic slowed in California freeways and people danced and sang […] More
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‘What a Beautiful View’: 55 Years Since Freedom 7 Began America’s Adventure in Space (Part 2)
In the half-hour between 9:30 and 10 a.m. EDT on 5 May 1961, the United States came to a standstill. A Philadelphia appeals court judge interrupted all proceedings to make an announcement, whilst free champagne—even at this hour—flowed freely in taverns, traffic slowed on Californian freeways, and people danced and sang in Times Square. Even […] More
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‘Man, I Gotta Pee’: 55 Years Since Freedom 7 Began America’s Adventure in Space (Part 1)
Fifty-five years ago, in the early hours of 5 May 1961, America prepared to launch its first man into space. Navy Cmdr. Alan Shepard would fly a suborbital flight—rising from Pad 5 at Cape Canaveral in the Mercury capsule he had named “Freedom 7” and splashing down, just 15 minutes later, in the Atlantic Ocean, about […] More
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‘We Had ‘Em By the Short Hairs’: How the United States Lost the Race for a Man in Space (Part 2)
Fifty-five years ago, next week, on 24 March 1961, the final unpiloted mission of a Mercury-Redstone capsule-booster combination roared into space, ahead of the launch of America’s first astronaut. As outlined in yesterday’s AmericaSpace history article, it was conducted in response to numerous technical malfunctions on previous flights. Despite its necessity, the Mercury-Redstone Booster Development […] More
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Timid Doctors and Timid Germans: How the United States Lost the Race for a Man in Space (Part 1)
More than five decades have now passed since one of the most unfortunate episodes in human spaceflight history. In late March 1961, an additional test of the Mercury-Redstone capsule-booster combination—destined to deliver America’s first man into space—was inserted into the U.S. flight manifest, before the vehicle could be entrusted with a human pilot. Known as […] More
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‘Familiar to Millions of Americans’: 45 Years Since Apollo 14 (Part 4)
For those of us born within the last four decades, the notion of looking up at the Moon and knowing that fellow human beings are living and working there has been as alien as the dusty surface itself. But for a short handful of years, between July 1969 and December 1972, six teams of astronauts—12 […] More
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‘It’s Been A Long Way’: 45 Years Since Apollo 14 (Part 3)
Forty-five years ago, last week, the sixth team of Apollo lunar explorers—and only the third to accomplish a landing on the Moon’s dusty surface—headed back to Earth after a mission which restored confidence in America’s space program after the near-disastrous Apollo 13. Astronauts Al Shepard, Stu Roosa and Ed Mitchell brought a scientific yield back […] More
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‘Fat as a Goose’: 45 Years Since Apollo 14 (Part 2)
A few hours after leaving Earth on 31 January 1971—45 years ago, this week—Apollo 14 seemed a charmed mission-in-progress, providing a stark contrast with its immediate predecessor, the ill-fated Apollo 13. As outlined in yesterday’s AmericaSpace history article, Commander Al Shepard, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Stu Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Ed Mitchell were tasked […] More
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‘Almost Worth the Entire Trip’: 45 Years Since Apollo 14 (Part 1)
Forty-five years ago, this week, the sixth team of Apollo lunar explorers—and only the third to accomplish a landing on the Moon’s dusty surface—headed back to Earth after a mission which restored confidence in America’s space program after the near-disastrous Apollo 13. Astronauts Al Shepard, Stu Roosa, and Ed Mitchell (who died on Thursday) brought […] More
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The Misfortune of Al Shepard: 50 Years Since Gemini 3 (Part 1)
On the night before the Gemini 3 mission—50 years ago, this week—backup crewmen Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford went out on an errand in Coca Beach, Fla. Their journey took them to a deli, called Wolfies, on North Atlantic Avenue, at the behest of prime pilot John Young. “Young mentioned to me a day or […] More
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