On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American astronaut in space when he flew the Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7 on a suborbital flight, soaring 116 miles above Earth and then splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean after 15.5 minutes. Ten years later, Shepard became the fifth man to walk on the moon—and the oldest, at 47— when he took part in the Apollo 14 lunar landing. Shepard is remembered as a complex man who lived an outsized life. With that in mind, here are 13 interesting facts about Alan Shepard.
1. Alan Shepard went to class in a one-room schoolhouse.
Born on November 18, 1923, in East Derry, New Hampshire, Shepard attended a one-room schoolhouse during his early years. He then enrolled at Pinkerton Academy, an independent day and boarding school, where he received good grades—particularly in math. Shepard graduated in 1940 and went on to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
