Word: shepards
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...daughters, Laura, 13, and Juliana, 9, watched on TV while Alan Shepard blasted off last week, Louise never doubted that he would survive the challenge. Or so she said, as she wiped away her nervous tears when word came that her husband was safe. She had been resigned to the ordeal ever since he put in for space-flight training. The day that he got his orders to join Project Mercury, Christian Scientist Alan Shepard had a serious talk with his wife, harping on the security that an astronaut could never have. Louise listened for a while and said: "What...
Admiral's Cabin. Chances are, the six other astronauts* shared Shepard's driving urge to get into space. But by the time the top three men were chosen to prepare for the final countdown, despite persistent rumors that Marine Lieut. Colonel John Glenn was the front runner, Shepard's peers had already picked him as their personal choice. His utter devotion to the experiment earned him the flight. Said he with a grin: "Maybe I'm a link between Ham the Space Chimp and man." Whatever the reasons, it was Shepard who was chosen by National...
Even after the tedious training paid off in a perfect flight, Shepard's ordeal was not over. "Debriefing" (Pentagonese for careful questioning) began the moment that he landed on Lake Champlain's deck. Doctors hustled Shepard to the admiral's cabin, where they first let him talk away his effervescent enthusiasm. Then, while tape recorders continued to catch every word, they began questions designed to collect scraps of information that the space traveler might have gathered. Relief came when Shepard was summoned to the bridge; President Kennedy was calling by radiophone from Washington...
Kennedy congratulated Shepard, told him that the presidential family had watched his flight on TV, and said that he was looking forward to seeing him in Washington. Said Shepard: "Thank you very much, Mr. President. It was certainly a very thrilling ride. I'd like to thank everybody who made it possible." Soon after the stilted conversation (which sounded for all the world like Major Yuri Gagarin's talk with Khrushchev after his orbital flight), an airplane took Shepard to Grand Bahama Island, where he was held incommunicado for an elaborate physical and mental examination and a more...
Baby Step. But even with the hero out of sight, the voluntary hero-making mechanisms of the U.S. worked at full blast. A newly built school in Deerfield, Ill., was named for Shepard. A greeting card went on sale in Boston for admirers to send to the astronaut. Mayor Wagner of New York promised him the greatest ticker-tape welcome in New York's littered history. Mayor Poulson of Los Angeles immediately tried to outbid Wagner. A bar in Fort Wayne, Ind., treated its customers to champagne. Senators, judges, professors and generals burst into praise for Shepard. Said First...