For many, the most famous personalities in space exploration are Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong. The representative of the Soviet Union first flew into space and returned alive, while the United States landed on the moon.
However, Armstrong is not the first American astronaut. He is considered a completely different person. His biography, career and mission will be discussed in the article.
Preparation for the selection of astronauts
It is no secret that both powers were the main competitors in space exploration. In the USA, this problem was dealt with at the Langley Research Center (Virginia). However, in addition to the design and implementation of the spacecraft, it was necessary to form a squad of astronauts.
Preparation for this began in November 1958. The first detachment of US astronauts was to be selected in several stages. First, they wanted to choose one hundred and fifty candidates, gradually weeding out of this group of people according to the results of medical and psychological tests, as well as nine-month training. As a result of the selection, six astronauts were to remain.
Significant interference in the search for candidates was the decision of President Dwight Eisenhower, who saw the best applicants only among test pilots. Of these, they began to choose.
Astronaut Choice
By the beginning of 1959, selection began. Specialists were guided by the following criteria:
- growth - up to 180 cm;
- perfect physical condition;
- age - up to forty years;
- technical education (bachelor);
- special education - test pilot;
- flight experience - not less than one and a half thousand hours.
According to these criteria, NASA representatives selected 110 applicants, of which a group of 36 people was selected to conduct further tests. 32 candidates agreed to undergo a thorough medical and psychological examination. One of them was eliminated, so 31 pilots arrived at the Research Center. Further choices turned out to be very difficult. In the end, the experts selected not six, but seven people for the flight.
The pilots were called astronauts, and their names were officially announced on 04/09/1959. Among them was the first American astronaut.
The first seven with Alan Shepard
All astronauts were family men with an engineering degree, in excellent physical shape. Their age ranged from 32 to 37 years.
List of the first seven with military rank:
- John Glenn is a lieutenant colonel.
- Gordon Cooper, Virgil Grissom, Donald Slayton - captains.
- Alan Shepard, Walter Shirra - Senior Lieutenants.
- Scott Carpenter is a lieutenant.
Among them was one who was awarded the title of "First American Cosmonaut." Men began to be prepared for flight, first at the Research Center in Virginia, then at Houston, Texas. Each representative of the seven had their own specialization. The main character of the article was trained to work in rescue and tracking systems.
Shepard's education
Alan was born on 11/18/1923 in the city of Derry. At the age of 36, he became one of seven astronauts chosen by NASA for space flight. In many ways, the education he received contributed to this.
The future astronaut Alan Shepard once graduated from the College of the Academy named after Admiral Farragut, the Naval Academy with a bachelor's degree in natural sciences, and the naval college.
Pilot career
After receiving a bachelor’s diploma, Alan Shepard became a naval officer. At this time, World War II was still ongoing, so he was assigned to the destroyer and sent to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1947, he received the rank of pilot and was sent to serve in a fighter squadron. In 1950, the pilot entered the school of testers. After completing his studies, he took part in flight tests, including experiments to develop a refueling system in the air. For five months, the future astronaut was an instructor for test pilots.
Before becoming an astronaut, Shepard flew over 8,000 hours, of which 3,700 were spent on jet aircraft.
Astronaut career
The first American astronaut was one of the seven applicants chosen by NASA in 1959. They were preparing for the Mercury program. His professionalism and high personal qualities allowed him to be the first US representative to reach outer space and fly to the moon.
He made his first flight in 1961. The journey was short-lived, but so necessary for the United States of America. The ship-capsule was called Freedom-7.
Later, the astronaut was trained as an understudy for G. Cooper on the Atlas-9 mission. In 1963, he was supposed to fly on the Atlas-10. The flight was supposed to spend three days, but it was canceled. After that, the astronaut was chosen as the first pilot on the ship "Gemini". Having started training, he underwent a medical examination, as a result of which he discovered an ear disease that interrupted the activity of the vestibular apparatus. Due to Meniere’s illness, he was suspended from flying for several years.
In order to return to preparation for flights, Shepard had to undergo surgery on the ear cavity. She was successful, and the astronaut returned to vigorous activity.
As a forty-seven-year-old pilot, NASA's oldest astronaut at that time, Alan made his second space flight in his life. He was appointed commander of Apollo 14. He made the third successful US expedition to the moon. This happened in the period from January 31 to February 9, 1971.
Mercury Redstone with Alan Shepard
Under the Mercury program, Alan Shepard’s flight was the first successful launch of a manned spacecraft. It was launched by the Redstone-3 launch vehicle. The capsule was able to rise to a height of 186 km and sank into the waters of the Atlantic range of the United States. This place turned out to be at a distance of 486 km from the original starting point.
Unlike the flight of Yuri Gagarin, who managed to fly around the Earth in orbit, on May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard only reached space, having spent a little more than fifteen minutes in flight. He became the second person in the world to reach such heights.
Flight objectives
The main objective of the United States was to get ahead of other countries, especially the USSR, in space exploration. The Mercury program was designed to fulfill certain goals. The launch of the Mercury-Redstone-3 system, on which Shepard was located, was successful.
The main objectives of the flight:
- Gaining experience of manned spacecraft during launch, active flight, zero gravity, as well as entering the atmosphere and landing.
- Assessing the capabilities of the pilot in controlling a spacecraft, voice communications during flight.
- The study of the human reaction to flight in space, primarily physiological.
- The possibility of landing an astronaut and a ship.
Life of an astronaut after retirement
At the end of his flying career, Alan Shepard, whose biography is considered in the article, was engaged in social activities. In 1971, he became a delegate to the UN Assembly. At the same time, he received doctorates in natural sciences and humanities.
At the end of the twentieth century, together with two journalists, the famous astronaut published the book “Flight to the Moon”. Based on her motives, they immediately created a television series.
Shepard died on July 21, 1998, at the age of seventy-five. The cause of death was a long illness - leukemia. Five weeks later, his wife Louise died. Their bodies were cremated, and the dust was scattered over the sea.
Interesting facts about the astronaut and his flight
The project, in which Alan took part, was called "Mercury". The name was chosen in honor of the ancient Roman mythological creature, who was the messenger of the gods and the patron saint of trade. In Washington, the name of the project was approved on December 10, 1958.
The candidates selected for space flights were called astronauts. The name was chosen by analogy with the Argonauts, who in ancient Greek mythology swam behind the Golden Fleece, and aeronauts, that is, balloonists.
Before the flight, Alan was prescribed a strict diet. He was cooked by a personal chef. For example, breakfast consisted of orange juice, semolina, scrambled eggs, strawberry jam, coffee with sugar. The list of dishes has changed. The cook prepared one portion for the astronaut, and the second was stored for 24 hours in the refrigerator in case he had problems with the digestive tract.
The day before the flight, coffee was removed from the menu due to its diuretic and aphrodisiac effect.
Before launching, the astronaut said to himself: “Don't screw it up, Shepard.” The media supplemented it a bit by mentioning words about God. Since that time, such a "prayer" was said by many pilots.
The pilot was accommodated in the capsule ship at 5 hours 15 minutes, but the flight took place only after two and a half hours. The reasons for the delay were technical hiccups and the cloudiness that appeared, because of which good images of the Earth from space would not have turned out. The ship launched at 9 hours 34 minutes. It was watched by 45 million viewers in the United States of America.
The first attempts to reach space were not always successful. It is very difficult to foresee all the nuances. So, NASA, selecting the most worthy candidates for the flight, did not take into account their usual physiological needs. That is, in the spacecraft there was no way to relieve the need. Because of this, Shepard had to do it in a costume right during the flight.