Alan Shepard Research Paper

“I must admit, maybe I am a piece of history after all” -Alan Shepard. Alan Shepard, whether he knew it or not, really was a piece of history. Alan Shepard was born on November 18th, 1923 in New Hampshire. Alan was a good student through school, and after that he joined the US Naval Academy. He served in World War II. Then, exactly 23 days after Russia went to space, Alan Shepard got into space and back. Alan Shepard was the first American astronaut who used persistence to innovate ways to pave the path to space exploration and illuminated the world by becoming the first American to get to space. Alan Shepard used many habits of mind to achieve his goals, such as persistence. First of all, preparing to go to space is a very long process. It takes up to two years, not including education that is required. Some of the things that they need to do include rooms where they experience zero-gravity, and life sized objects to help them understand what they will experience. Alan was also the only one in his ship, so he had to be prepared for any situation. Another time when he was going to go on a mission, Alan was “grounded” because of an ear
Even though his flight was 15.5 minutes, it was one of the most revolutionary moments in America. His ship, Freedom 7, was only fit for one person. Yet after the ship was successful, they were able to make modifications so that it could last in space longer, and so that it would hold more people. With Alan being qualified to be in space, he was able to teach others how to survive and help with training.In 1961, the year of Alan’s first mission, the ships and technology was not as advanced as it is now. So after his mission, Alan helped NASA better their technology for later missions. Even though Alan Shepard was not the first person in space, he innovated space exploration and without him, we wouldn’t be where we are