- Is the only member of the original seven Mercury astronauts, the first astronauts to be picked for the U.S. space program, to walk on the moon.
- Made the historic first U.S. space flight on May 5, 1961. Was the first man to hit a golf ball on the moon.
- A shot of him from his astronaut days can be seen in the opening credits sequence of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001)
- Moonwalker (Apollo 14, 1971).
- Is credited with coining the usage "A-OK" on his sub-orbital Mercury flight in 1961.
- Retired from the Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral.
- Flew on Mercury-Redstone 3 also known as Freedom 7 which is on display at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis MD. Afterwards he was taken off flight status due to an inner ear problem that disappeared during the Apollo program. He was commander of the Apollo 14 mission and went to the moon with Stuart Roosa and Edward Mitchell. The command module was named Kitty Hawk and the lunar module was named Antares. They completed two EVAs or moonwalks totaling 33 hours on the moon and walked over 500 meters pulling a shopping cart full of tools and lunar samples.
- Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 564-566. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
- Was a member of NASA's Mercury 7 project, introduced in April 9, 1959, only six months after the agency was established (together with Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper).
- Named his Mercury spacecraft "Freedom 7".
- Appears on a nondenominated USA commemorative postage stamp issued 4 May 2011 to honor the Mercury Project of the US space program. Above his likeness are the words "Alan Shepard: First American in Space". Original issue price of the stamp was 44¢.
- Was a member of NASA's Mercury 7 project, introduced in April 9, 1959, only six months after the agency was established (together with Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper).
- Alan Shepard was a member of the seven man Mercury astronaut program, and was the first American, and the second man in space. He was also a member of the Apollo program and landed on the moon.
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