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Alan Shepard: The First American Astronaut
By Andrew Chaikin
Executive Editor, Space and Science
posted: 07:00 am ET
04 May 2001
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shepard_freedom7_anniversary_010503
May 5, 1961. In the predawndarkness, a 59-foot- (18-meter-) tall Redstone missile stood in the glareof floodlights. Vapor spewed from the rocket's side as its tanks were pressurizedwith fuel and supercold liquid oxygen. Not far away, in a trailer thatserved as a suiting-up room, Alan Shepard prepared to ride that rocket.When he emerged, clad in a silvery spacesuit and carrying a portable ventilator,he paused to look up at the gleaming rocket. Minutes later, he was squeezinginto the tiny cabin of his Mercury spacecraft, which he had christenedFreedom 7. Lying on his back in a formfitting couch, Shepard watched astechnicians sealed the spacecraft's side hatch. "Okay, buster," he toldhimself, "you volunteered for this thing."
Readon ...  SPACETV: Alan Shepard Remembered
Freedom 7 Anniversary Photo Gallery
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Freedom 7
