Double Play!

On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveller as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight in a space capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. He splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean where, in the routine retrieval of that time, he was picked up by helicopter from the sea, along with his capsule, and airlifted onto an aircraft carrier. His space capsule, Freedom 7, is now on display at the US Naval Academy.

Ten years later, Alan Shepard became the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission. Among the several firsts achieved on the lunar surface, Shepard also used a six-iron to hit two golf balls. Primary science observation in the low lunar gravity!

B Bondar / Real World Content Advantage