On May 5, 1961, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.
was launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule,
becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space.
The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a
height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph
for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
On February 5, 1971, Alan Shepard, the first American in space,
became the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon as part of the
Apollo 14 lunar landing mission.
Shepard and Freedom 7 on the deck of the aircraft carrier
USS Lake Champlain.
Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (1923 – 1998)
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