Alan Shepard was the first American in space. He was one of NASA's first seven astronauts. He also walked on the moon. Alan Shepard was born on Nov. 18, 1923. He worked on a ship during World War II. After the war, Shepard went back to school. He became a test pilot. Test pilots try out new aircraft. The pilots make sure the airplanes are safe. In April 1959, Shepard became an astronaut.
Shepard made history on May 5, 1961, as his Freedom 7 spacecraft flew up into the sky from its Florida launch pad. He became the first American in space, a month after the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had earned the distinction as the first person in space. After roughly four hours of delays, Shepard traveled more than 300 miles in his 15-minute-long mission. Shepard came down in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas, where he was picked up by the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain. Shepard died in California in 1998, after a long battle with leukemia. He was survived by his wife, Louise, their three daughters, and several grandchildren. At the time of his passing, fellow astronaut John Glenn spoke about Shepard with The New York Times: "He was a patriot, he was a leader, he was a competitor, a fierce competitor. He was a hero. Most importantly to us, he was a close friend." President Bill Clinton remembered Shepard as "one of the great heroes of modern America," according to a separate report in The New York Times.
