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| NASA file photos |
America's first man in space, Rear Adm. Alan B. Shepard, USN, attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1944. His first assignment was as a surface warfare officer aboard Navy destroyer USS Cogswell deployed to the Pacific Ocean. He subsequently entered flight training and earned his wings in 1947, after which he logged more than 8,000 hours of flying time with 3,700 hours in jet aircraft.
Shepard was selected for America's astronaut program in April 1959 and made his historic journey into space in the Mercury spacecraft "Freedom 7" May 5, 1961. During an Apollo space flight in 1971, he served as spacecraft commander and was the fifth person to walk on the moon. Shepard retired from the Navy and NASA in 1974 and died in 1998.
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