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- MONTEREY, Calif. (Reuters) - Alan Shepard, the first American in space
and the only man to play golf on the moon, has died after a long illness,
space and hospital officials said Wednesday. He was 74. Shepard, a former
Navy pilot who was the fifth person to walk on the moon, died in his sleep
Tuesday at Community Hospital in the coastal town of Monterey, 110 miles
(166 km) south of San Francisco, according to a hospital spokeswoman. ``He
died after a lengthy illness,'' the spokeswoman said. She declined to give
details but fellow space veteran John Glenn said his friend had died of
leukemia. ``I've lost a friend and the country's lost a great patriot,''
Glenn told reporters. President Clinton called Shepard ``one of our greatest
astronauts'' and expressed the ``gratitude of the nation'' for his pioneering
space career. Shepard made history on May 5, 1961 when he blasted off from
Cape Canaveral in Florida aboard Freedom 7 for a 15-minute sub-orbital
flight, five minutes of which were spent in actual space. His craft took
him to an altitude of 115 miles before returning to a splash-down in the
Atlantic Ocean. It was a small beginning but it took America into the space
race with the Soviet Union, 23 days after Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became
the first human in space. ``(It was) just the first baby step, aiming for
bigger and better things,'' Shepard said later. His words were echoed eight
years later by Neil Armstrong, who declared, ``One small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind,'' as he stepped onto the lunar surface to become
the first man on the moon.
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- After being sidelined by an inner ear
ailment that required an operation and kept him out of space for a decade,
Shepard made history again as commander of the 1971 Apollo 14 flight, becoming
the fifth man to walk on the moon. On that trip, he became the first man
to play golf on the moon's surface, sending a ball hurtling through the
thin lunar atmosphere with a six-iron, hundreds of yards further than it
would have gone on Earth. In an interview several years ago, Shepard was
asked about teeing off on the moon and said: ``I went to the boss and I
said, 'Boss I want to hit a golf ball on the moon.' He said, 'Shepard,
you've been giving me trouble for 15 years. The answer is: Hell, no!'''
Shepard did it anyway.
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- He was one of the original seven Mercury
astronauts, known as ``the Magnificent Seven,'' named by NASA in 1959 to
take America into space. His death leaves four still alive: Glenn, Scott
Carpenter, Gordon Cooper and Walter Schirra. Glenn is set to make history
by becoming the oldest man in space when he climbs aboard the space shuttle
later this year. Asked in a recent interview if he would like to return
to space himself, Shepard hesitated and said: ``I think I'm through...
I think I'm finished.'' While grounded Shepard served as Chief of the Astronaut
Office, a position he returned to in 1971 after his lunar flight and in
which he served until his retirement in 1974 with the rank of rear admiral.
Despite his playful nature, Shepard was known for steely determination.
He once said he signed up for the 1961 flight because it was the biggest
challenge of the fledgling space program.
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- ``Alan was fun to be around,'' said Admiral
Richard Truly, a former NASA administrator. ``On the other hand he could
be really tough. He knew how to make decisions and if they were unpleasant
ones, it didn't faze him.'' A banker's son, Shepard was born in East Derry,
N.H., on Nov. 18, 1923. He received a degree from the U.S. Naval Academy
in Annapolis in 1944 and later served aboard the destroyer Cogswell in
the Pacific during World War II. He entered flight training and received
his wings in 1947. Shepard was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1979 for
his contribution to the space program.
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- After retirement, Shepard became chairman
of Marathon Construction Company in Houston, Texas. A millionaire, he spread
his investments through banks, real estate and horses. He is survived by
his wife Louise and two children, Laura Snyder and Julie Coleman Jenkins.
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