Alan Bartlett "
Al"
Shepard, Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998), (
RADM,
USN), was an
American naval officer and
aviator,
test pilot,
flag officer, one of the original
NASA Mercury Seven astronauts, and
businessman, who in 1961 became the second person and the first American to travel into
space. This
Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve
orbit. Ten years later, at age 47 and the oldest astronaut in the program, Shepard commanded the
Apollo 14 mission, piloting the lander to the most accurate landing of the
Apollo missions. He became the
fifth and oldest person to walk on the Moon, and the only astronaut of the
Mercury Seven to walk on the
Moon. During the mission, he hit two
golf balls on the
lunar surface.