The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Alan B. Shepard, Jr. - Aug. 9th, 2004

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[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

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Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
(1923-1998)

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Alan B. Shepard, Jr. was born and raised in East Derry, New Hampshire. His father was a retired Army officer. Alan grew up on the family farm and attended East Derry's one-room schoolhouse. As a boy he did odd jobs at the local airfield to learn about airplanes.

Alan Shepard, age three, with his mother Renza and sister Pauline.
(Courtesy Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr.)

An excellent student, Shepard won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. After graduation, Ensign Shepard served on the destroyer Cogswell during the closing months of World War II. At war's end, he married Louise Brewer, whom he had met while attending the Naval Academy.

Shepard was so eager to receive his wings and pilot's license that he studied at a civilian flying school in his spare time while attending naval flight training at Corpus Christi, Texas and Pensacola, Florida. After receiving his wings, he served with the 42nd Fighter Squadron for several tours of duty aboard aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean.


Midshipman Alan Shepard, Annapolis, 1943.
(Courtesy Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr.)

In 1950, Shepard entered the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School in Patuxent, Maryland. After qualifying as a test pilot, he tested high-altitude aircraft and in-flight fueling systems, and made some of the first landings on angled carrier decks. He served as operations officer of the 193rd Fighter Squadron on two tours of the Western Pacific, and as an instructor at the Navy Test Pilot School. After graduation from the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island in 1958, Alan Shepard became aircraft readiness officer on the staff of the Commander in Chief of the Atlantic fleet.

In 1959, the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) invited 110 top test pilots to volunteer for the manned space flight program. Of the original 110, Shepard was among the seven chosen for Project Mercury and presented to the public at a press conference on April 8, 1959. The other six were Malcolm (Scott) Carpenter, Leroy Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil (Gus) Grissom, Walter (Wally) Schirra and Donald (Deke) Slayton.


Alan Shepard, with his wife Louise, on their wedding day in 1945.
(Courtesy Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr.)

These seven were subjected to an unprecedented and grueling training in the sciences and in physical endurance. Every conceivable situation the men would encounter in space travel was studied and, when possible, simulated with training devices.

Of the seven Mercury astronauts, Shepard was chosen for the first American manned mission into space. On April 15, 1961, only a few weeks before Shepard's flight, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to reach outer space. Gagarin's flight took him into orbit around the earth.


Flight school, 1946.
(Courtesy Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr.)

Shepard's flight, on May 5, was still a history-making event. Whereas Gagarin had been only a passenger in his vehicle, Shepard was able to maneuver the Freedom 7 space capsule himself. While the Soviet mission was veiled in secrecy, Shepard's flight, return from space, splashdown at sea, and recovery by helicopter to a waiting aircraft carrier were seen on live television by millions around the world. On his return, Shepard was honored with parades in Washington, New York and Los Angeles.

In the subsequent Mercury missions of Virgil Grissom and John Glenn, the U.S. space program would quickly meet and then surpass the achievements of the Soviet one. Shepard himself moved on to the next stage of the space program: Project Gemini.


The original seven Mercury astronauts. Alan Shepard stands at top left.
(NASA)

Shepard was scheduled to command the first Gemini mission when he was diagnosed with an inner ear disturbance affecting his equilibrium. This disturbance kept him out of space for the next six years. He remained with NASA as chief of the astronaut office, but could only sit and watch as younger astronauts of Project Apollo prepared for travel to the moon. Tragedy struck the space program when a launch pad fire destroyed Apollo V, taking the lives of three astronauts, including Shepard's Project Mercury comrade, Gus Grissom.

By 1968, an operation had restored Shepard's equilibrium and he volunteered for a lunar mission, but Shepard remained earthbound, while Apollo XI and XII successfully landed men on the moon. Apollo XIII, which Shepard had hoped to lead himself, was forced to turn back in mid-course. In 1971, 47 year-old Alan Shepard, the oldest astronaut in the program, was finally tapped to lead the Apollo XIV mission to the moon.



Millions watched the live color broadcast of the mission, and few who saw it will ever forget the sight of Shepard and Edgar Mitchell bouncing around in the low-gravity environment, or of Shepard batting golf balls into the lunar distance before boarding the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) to return to the craft orbiting above. Once again, Shepard returned from space to a hero's welcome. He was promoted to Admiral before finally retiring from the Navy and from NASA.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for sharing about your Mom, Snippy. That was the arguement I heard some of the pilots like Yeager gave.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Folks.

BTW tommorow is the second Tuesday of the month, the day Microsoft nornally sedns down their critical updates for Windows. We'll see just how much they're going to send down. They did say that an updated version of SP2 the largest update ever would be out soon.

Be sure to download those updates when they become available.

[The Mayor]

August 9, 2004

Stay Home And Keep Them

Read: James 1:21-27

Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only. —James 1:22

Bible In One Year: Psalms 77-78; Romans 10

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A church member told his pastor that he was going to the Holy Land. He said that it was his intention to visit Mount Sinai. "In fact," he told the minister, "I plan to climb to the top of that mountain, and read the Ten Commandments aloud when I get there."

Thinking this would please the pastor, he was surprised to hear, "You know, I can think of something even better than that." The man responded, "You can, Pastor? And what might that be?"

He replied rather bluntly, "Instead of traveling thousands of miles to read the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, why not stay right here at home and keep them?"

God wants us to read His Word, of course. But more important, He wants us to obey it. So, as we open the Bible each day, we should pray not only for illumination to understand it but also for a willingness to obey it. Hearing and doing must go hand-in-hand (James 1:22).

When Saul heard Jesus speaking to him on the road to Damascus, he asked, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" (Acts 9:6). That's a good question for us to ask whenever we read the Bible or hear it read.

Let's be "doers of the Word." —Richard De Haan

We take delight to read God's Word,
We say, "Ah, yes, it's true!"
But we must go beyond mere words
And seek His will to do. —D. De Haan

The Spirit of God enables us to obey the Word of God.

[Valin]

"Well, General Reynolds, we held the high ground."

[Valin]

Something I recall from "the Right Stuff" "A monkeys going up first!"

[SAMWolf]

Meade will come in slowly, cautiously, new to command... And then, after Lee's army is entrenched behind nice fat rocks, Meade will attack finally, if he can coordinate the army. He'll attack right up that rocky slope, and up that gorgeous field of fire. And we will charge valiantly, and be butchered valiantly. And afterwards men in tall hats and gold watch fobs will thump their chest and say what a brave charge it was. Devin, I've led a soldier's life, and I've never seen anything as brutally clear as this.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Mayor.

[Samwise]

Hi everybody.

We're back home, but I'm hip-deep in laundry.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Alan Shepard has been one of my heroes as long as I can remember. Thanks for the great tribute!

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Alan Shepard has been one of my heroes as long as I can remember. Thanks for the great tribute!

[Professional Engineer]

Space geek bump!

[Professional Engineer]

Hi miss Feather

[Professional Engineer]

Just last night I watched The Right Stuff.

Got any Beemis?

[Professional Engineer]

1790 Columbia becomes 1st US flagged ship to voyage around the world

WOW, you'd have thought the space shuttle was newer than that.

Columbia (OV-102), the first of NASA's orbiter fleet, was delivered to Kennedy Space Center in March 1979. Columbia initiated the Space Shuttle flight program when it lifted off Pad A in the Launch Complex 39 area at KSC on April 12, 1981. It proved the operational concept of a winged, reusable spaceship by successfully completing the Orbital Flight Test Program - missions STS-1 through STS-4.

Other, achievements for Columbia included the recovery of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite from orbit during mission STS-32 in January 1990, and the STS-40 Spacelab Life Sciences mission in June 1991 - the first manned Spacelab mission totally dedicated to human medical research.

Columbia was destroyed over east Texas on its landing descent to Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 1, 2003, at 8:59 a.m. EST at the conclusion of a microgravity research mission, STS-107.

Columbia was named after a small sailing vessel that operated out of Boston in 1792 and explored the mouth of the Columbia River. One of the first ships of the U.S. Navy to circumnavigate the globe was named Columbia. The command module for the Apollo 11 lunar mission was also named Columbia.

[Professional Engineer]

You Might Be An Engineer If...
You hesitate to look at something because you don't want to break down its wave function

You just have to remember that pure sine waves and extremely rare. All things include harmonics and distortion.

Are we ready to rock and roll yet?

[Professional Engineer]

Howdy ma'am

[Professional Engineer]

... but I'm hip-deep in laundry.

Gasoline and a match will solve that quite nicely.

[Professional Engineer]

[Aeronaut]

Hi Sam.

[Soaring Feather]