Alan Bartlett Shepard - second person(first being Yuri Gagarin and the first American, to travel into space

Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (Nov 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American Naval Aviator,Test Pilot,Flag Officer and NASA Astronautwho in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space.

In January 1961, Allan Shepard was chosen for the first American manned mission into space.

On May 5, 1961, Allan Shepard piloted the Freedom 7 mission and became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space. He was launched by a Redstone Rocket, and unlike Yuri Gagarin's 108-minute orbital flight,Allan Shepard stayed on a ballistic trajectory—a 15-minute suborbital flight which carried him to an altitude of 116 statute miles (187 km) and to a splashdown point 302 statute miles (486 km) down the Atlantic Missile Range. Unlike Gagarin, whose flight was strictly automatic, Shepard had some control of Freedom 7, spacecraft attitude in particular.

The launch was seen live on television by millions.

Later, he was scheduled to pilot the Mercury-Atlas 10 Freedom 7-II three-day extended duration mission in October 1963.

Allan Shepard made his 2nd Spaceflight as Commander of Apollo 14 from January 31 – February 9, 1971, America's third successful Lunar Landing Mission . Allan Shepard piloted the Lunar Module Antares to the most accurate landing of the entire Apollo program. This was the first mission to successfully broadcast color television pictures from the surface of the Moon, using a Vidicon Tube Camera.
Allan Shepard poses next to the US Flag on the Moon during Apollo 14

Allan Shepard became the 5th person to walk on the moon and the only astronaut of the Mercury Seven  to walk on the Moon.Mercury Seven was the group of 7 Mercury Astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959. These seven original American astronauts were -

Allan Shepard
Gus Grissom
John Glenn
Scott Carpenter
Wally Schirra
Gordon Cooper and
Deke Slayton


 American Astronauts who walk on the moon
12 men have walked on the Moon - all American - of whom nine are still living.All of the landings took place between July 1969 and December 1972 as part of the Apollo program.
1) Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11 in July 1969 - 1st man to set foot on the moon
2)Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11 in July 1969
3)Pete Conrad on Apollo 12 in Nov 1969
4)Alan Bean on Apollo 12 in Nov 1969 - oldest, at age 47
5)Allan Shepard on Apollo 14 in Feb 1971
6)Edgar Mitchell on Apollo 14 in Feb 1971
7)David Scott on Apollo 15 in July - Aug,1971
8)James Irwin on Apollo 15 in July - Aug,1971
9)John W Young on Apollo 16 in April 1972
10)Charles Duke on Apollo 16 in April 1972 - youngest, at age 36
11)Eugene Cernan on Apollo 17 in Dec 1972 - last person to leave
12)Harrison Schmitt on Apollo 17 in Dec 1972 - last person to arrive



 Death
Allan Shepard died of Leukemia in 1998, five weeks before the death of his wife of 53 years.