Alan Shepard Biography and Timeline

Project Mercury Astronaut Selection

NASA presents Shepard as one of the seven pilots selected for Project Mercury, America's first human spaceflight programme.

Freedom 7 Mercury

Shepard pilots Freedom 7 on the first crewed American suborbital spaceflight, demonstrating the basic Mercury spacecraft and recovery system.

Apollo 14 Call Signs Announced

Announces that the Apollo 14 command module will be called Kitty Hawk and the lunar module will be called Antares during a preflight press conference.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Preflight Semi-Quarantine

Begins a preflight health-stabilization period with his crewmates to reduce the risk of illness disrupting the Apollo 14 mission.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Launch

Commands Apollo 14 on a return to lunar landing operations.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Lunar Orbit Insertion

Commands Apollo 14 during insertion into lunar orbit before the Fra Mauro landing.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 ALSEP Deployment

Helps deploy the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package during the first surface EVA.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 ALSEP Traverse to Deployment Site

Pulls the Modular Equipment Transporter westward while carrying equipment to the selected experiment site about six hundred feet from Antares.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Antares Undocking

Separates Antares from Kitty Hawk on the twelfth lunar revolution and begins independent preparations for descent to Fra Mauro.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Comprehensive Sample Site

Marks a comprehensive sampling area in the lunar soil and collects geological material near the deployed scientific instruments.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 First EVA Sample Stowage

Returns to Antares with Mitchell and packs lunar samples and equipment before closing out the first surface excursion.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 First Step at Fra Mauro

Descends the Antares ladder and becomes the fifth person to walk on the Moon during the first Apollo 14 lunar surface excursion.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Flag Deployment

Plants the United States flag with Mitchell and photographs the display as part of the first Apollo 14 lunar surface excursion.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Landing

Pilots Antares to the most precise Apollo lunar landing achieved to that point.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Modular Equipment Transporter Deployment

Removes and unfolds the two-wheeled Modular Equipment Transporter that will carry instruments, tools and samples during the lunar traverses.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 S-Band Antenna Setup

Sets up the S-band dish antenna near Antares to improve communications between the Fra Mauro surface crew and Earth.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Television Camera Setup

Removes the lunar television camera from Antares and places it on a tripod so Mission Control and viewers can follow surface operations.

Role range: 1971-1971

Fra Mauro Landing

Pilots Antares to a precise landing in the Fra Mauro highlands.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 ALSEP Antenna Realignment

Returns to the ALSEP site near the end of the second excursion and adjusts its antenna to improve communications with Earth.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Antares Liftoff

Commands Antares as its ascent stage leaves Fra Mauro to rendezvous with Kitty Hawk.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Big Bertha Sample Collection

Collects the approximately nine-kilogram breccia later nicknamed Big Bertha near the edge of Cone Crater during the second lunar excursion.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Core Drill Sample Collection

Collects a core sample during the second lunar traverse to preserve material from below the immediate surface for later scientific examination.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Golf Shots

Hits two golf balls on the lunar surface near the end of Apollo 14 surface operations.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Lunar Sample Transfer to Kitty Hawk

Transfers rock boxes, sample containers and other mission material from Antares into Kitty Hawk after the lunar module rejoins the command module.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 MET Loading for Cone Crater Traverse

Loads photographic equipment, geological tools and sample bags onto the Modular Equipment Transporter before starting the second lunar traverse.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Second EVA

Explores toward Cone Crater with Mitchell during Apollo 14's second lunar excursion.

Role range: 1971-1971

Cone Crater Traverse

Travels with Mitchell toward Cone Crater while conducting geological observations and sample collection.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Antares Seismic Impact

Observes mission operations as the discarded Antares ascent stage is deliberately sent into the Moon to create a seismic signal for surface instruments.

Role range: 1971-1971

Apollo 14 Splashdown

Returns with Mitchell and Roosa after completing the Fra Mauro lunar landing mission.

Role range: 1971-1971