Scott then went to the moon on Apollo 15, which landed on the lunar surface on July 30, 1971. Selected as an astronaut in 1963, he flew with Neil Armstrong on the Gemini 8 mission and was command module pilot on Apollo 9. Mitchellĭavid Scott joined the Air Force after graduating from West Point. Shepard compared his book to The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, saying, "'We wanted to call ours 'The Real Stuff,' since his was just fiction.''Īlan Shepard died on Jat the age of 74. Shepard wrote a book with Deke Slayton, Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon.
He founded Seven Fourteen Enterprises, an umbrella corporation named after his two space missions. Shepard went into private business, serving on the board of several corporations and foundations. He retired from NASA and the Navy in 1974, having achieved the rank of Rear Admiral.
#Who filmed the first man on the moon professional#
With one arm (due to the space suit), he managed to drive further than professional golfers on Earth could ever hope to, thanks to the moon's lower gravity.īefore and after his Apollo mission, Shepard served as Chief of the Astronaut Office. During that time, he famously knocked a couple of golf balls with a six-iron attached to his sample-collecting tool. He was responsible for the most accurate lunar module landing ever, and spent 9 hours and 17 minutes exploring the moon's surface outside the module. His suborbital flight reached an altitude of 116 miles.īarred from flight during the Gemini program because of an inner ear problem, Shepard had the problem fixed surgically and was assigned as commander of the Apollo 14 mission to the moon. Shepard was the first American launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft on May 5, 1961. Navy test pilot, he was selected as one of the original Mercury astronauts in 1959.
Edwin "Buzz" AldrinĪlan Shepard was a bona-fide space pioneer who cemented his spot in history long before the Apollo program. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.” 2. “For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. His family released a statement that concluded: Neil Armstrong died on August 25, 2012, at age 82. Armstrong served on the boards of many corporations and foundations, but gradually withdrew from publicity tours and autograph signings. He resigned from NASA in 1971 and became a professor of of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati for eight years. Pilots generally take pride in a good landing, not in getting out of the vehicle.Īrmstrong along with his crew were honored with parades, awards, and acclaim after their return to Earth, but Armstrong always gave credit to the entire NASA team for the Apollo moon missions. Pilots take no special joy in walking: pilots like flying. Although the first steps on the moon are what he will always be known for, Armstrong considered the mission's biggest accomplishment was landing the lunar module. Armstrong was selected to be the first man to walk on the moon, as the Apollo 11 mission was planned, for several reasons: he was the commander of the mission, he didn't have a big ego, and the door of the lunar lander was on his side. Armstrong was assigned as an astronaut in 1962, and flew on the Gemini 8 mission in 1966, where he performed the first successful space docking procedure. He worked as an experimental test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) beginning in 1955, which evolved into NASA. Navy test pilot, engineer, and Korean War veteran Neil Armstrong left the Navy in 1952, but continued in the Naval Reserve.