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 First Man in Space Dies

       On July 23, 1998, Alan Shepard died of leukemia in a hospital in California. He was 74 years old and known throughout the world as the first American in space. Back in May of 1961, this former Navy test pilot made a 15 minute sub-orbital flight aboard the "Freedom Seven" spacecraft. In 1971, he returned to space and landed on the moon as commander of Apollo 14.
       He grew up in East Derry, New Hampshire and graduated from the Pinkerton Academy in Derry, studied a year at the Admiral Farragut Academy in New Jersey. From there, he went on to study at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He retired from NASA and the Navy in August of 1974. His flight marked the beginning of the U.S. manned space program, and he will always be remembered as one of America's heroes on the New Frontier