Talk:Alan Shepard

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[edit] Golf

The Apollo mission page says he smuggled a six-iron...here it says he used a converted scoop...which is the truth? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.14.104.198 (talk • contribs).

Both, actually. The handle of his improvised club was the contingency sample return rod, while the head of golf club was smuggled by Alan. Roswell Crash Survivor 04:18, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

This is a myth. He did not smuggle anything. The club head was approved by NASA management prior to the flight. After the A13 accident, they didn't want to risk anymore bad press.67.142.130.35 02:47, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

The article referred to the club head as a Spalding. I was just at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum where the "club" is on display - the club head is a Wilson 6 iron.

[edit] Misc

An event mentioned in this article is a May 5 selected anniversary (may be in HTML comment)

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Maveric149 (talk • contribs).

Ahem. I understand Shepard is dead; so should it still mention that he is retired? I am just asking, for all I know, that is the way it's done, I wouldn't have a problem with that. -- Cimon Avaro on a pogo stick 07:01 13 Jun 2003 (UTC)

William Shepherd the crew of Expedition 1 is still alive. He has the smae last name!!

  • Jer10 95 04:58, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

I've read von Braun insisted on a test of the Redstone, which delayed Shepard's fligt into 5/61. Confirm? Trekphiler 06:15, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Mercury-Redstone BD, launched 24/03/61. --GW_SimulationsUser Page | Talk 11:43, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Shepherd's Prayer

Think there's any way we can include the Shepherd's Prayer in here? I am referring to:

Dear Lord, please don't let me fuck up.
Alan Shepherd

-Joseph 04:29, 2004 Jul 20 (UTC)

This contains inapporpiate launguage. Jer10 95 04:54, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
Can we just get rid of this quote! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.104.3.157 (talk) 04:55, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

No. See Wikipedia:Content disclaimer and Wikipedia:Profanity. —Joseph/N328KF (Talk) 20:09, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Somebody seems to have removed it. I don't have time to go back through and find out where, but it will be since my last edit, which was to revert a previous censorship attempt. Could somebody try to dig it up. --GW_SimulationsUser Page | Talk 21:57, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
And again, by anonymous edit, on 14th March. Reverted. Khavakoz 21:26, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
Might it be better off under quotes? --GW_SimulationsUser Page | Talk 21:01, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Copyright

The "Experience" section is lifted word for word from his NASA biography. Is that stuff subject to copyright restrictions?

Randall Cameron randallcameron@kpmg.com.ye—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.162.184.1 (talk • contribs).

[edit] This article may violate copyrights

This article is extremely similar to the one found here. There is a lot of the exact same wording, but some sentences were just moved or reworded a little (it is still technically a violation). I will do a little research and thinking, and I may put a copyright violation notice on this article in the next week or so. Wikipeedio 15:31, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

That's not a copyvio. As you said, it's from NASA. That means it's fair game. See Template:NASA. —Joseph/N328KF (Talk) 15:38, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, that's right... the government can't have copyrights. Ok obviously I didn't get enough sleep last night. Nevermind about the whole thing then. Wikipeedio 15:42, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Crying

He was also the only astronaut to admit crying whilst on the Moon (at the beauty/magnitude of it all, not out of fear). Not sure if that is relevant although could be an interesting trivia point

[edit] Third man in space?

The article says that Shepard was "the third man and first American astronaut in space". If he was the third man in space, and Gagarin was the first, then who was the second? Matt 13:08, 22 September 2006 (UTC).

I suspect that was a vandal. Not the first time this was included in this article and both times, there was not supporting reference for assertion. A third time this was mentioned in this article, it was a part of a lengthy discourse that someone had written about how egocentric the US is in that they believe that Shepard and Ride were the first man and woman in space and that the US failed to recognize that there were other countries wuch as the then Soviet Union which beat them to the punch. I had also removed that as well. I took the further step of searching the listing of astronauts and cosmonauts created in Wikipedia and beyond and I am not finding the "second person" in space that was not Shepard. The only thing that can be said with certainty in the article is that Shepard was the first American in space, which is how the article has always read. Ladydayelle 13:39, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Soviet cosmomaut Gherman Titov was the second man in space aboard Vostok 2. Wikipedia already has a well-established article documenting this. 160.111.254.11 19:27, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

No he wasn't! Titov's flight on Vostok 2 went up in August 1961 - see Astronautix Article. Shepard was the second man in space and I have reverted the article accordingly. (of course, given that Gagarin ejected from Vostok 1 it can be argued that Alan was the First man to complete a spaceflight, but that's just madness) Khavakoz 10:20, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

68.92.39.223 23:58, 23 August 2007 (UTC)


[edit] US President Candidate

I read in a german news magazine that Shepard ran in a campaign to become US president, but (obviously) without success. But I don't find anything about this in the article. Did they write something wrong? If anyone might ask: There was no year given, they only wrote "after Apollo 14 and leaving the NASA he failed to become a presidential candidate". Does anyone know something about this? --Scooter (this one) 10:59, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

I just finished reading a biography of Shepard called Light This Candle by Neal Thompson (excellent book, by the way) and there was no mention whatsoever of political aspirations. Shepard was the only member of the early group of astronauts that came from a wealthy family, and he entered the business world after leaving the program. 'Card 17:15, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

Many errors in the Thompson book particularly about his father and grandfather in Derry,NH. He never ran for or sought public elected office. I think the wealth of the family was overblown quite a bit. The depression was pretty hard on both sets of grandparents who were once successful buisnessmen. Banking on his father's side, shoe manufacturing on his mothers. His father he addressed as "Sir", not Col.as he was not a Lt.Col(Res) until ABS Jr had been at Annapolis. His grandfather was never a soldier, he was a Col. by title only. (Aide-de-camp to a NH Gov.) The electric streetcar owned by his grandfather was closed in 1927 by Alan's father Bart. Thrifty by nature he wore old uniform shirts and pants without insignia or rank only to mow the lawn or paint. His father was an MBA (1914 Dartmouth, not a military man full time. Alan graduated from Pinkerton Academy, Derry,NH and then Admiral Farragut as a prep year for Annapolis. (Too young as he skipped two years of school in Derry). He was class of 45 at Annapolis but finished in 3 years. (The WW2 three year rush). Too many errors throughout the book to list. Information from a close family member.

[edit] reverted "mess" back in html comment

The html comment only makes sense if it has the same word that's in the displayed text. If you feel otherwise, let's discuss it. davidwr 09f9(talk) 04:08, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Achieve A-Class Status?

What more needs to be done to bring this article to A-Class status? I have made some effort to simplify and redefine the Astronaut Career section, which appeared muddled. It would of course have been helpful if whomever made the rating could have bothered to out in some comments. Any other ideas? Khavakoz 10:23, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Suborbital

It should be noted that, unlike Gagarin's and Titov's, Shepard's flight was suborbital. 82.56.18.152 17:57, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] First man in space? According to Google...

A quick search for "alan sheppard" (without the quotemarks) turns up a link to this article as the first find. It is accompanied by "Encyclopedia article includes information on the naval and astronaut career of the first man in space." Is there anyway of fixing this blatantly false piece of information on Google? Is this Google or Wikipedia that is doing this? I wonder...-- I ate jelly -- 10:01, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

That text doesn't show up anywhere in the Wikpedia article. I even looked at the raw html (page source) and it isn't hidden in there anywhere, so it must be an artifact of Google's Directory system. I have no idea how you'd get them to change it. 'Card 17:15, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Who said this? WaPo says it was Wally Schirra

Wikipedia says: "When reporters asked Shepard what he thought about as he sat atop the Redstone rocket, waiting for liftoff, he had replied, 'The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder.'"

The Washington Post's obit of Wally Schirra gives the credit to Schirra.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050300879.html

Walter Schirra; Fifth Astronaut in Space

By Patricia Sullivan Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, May 4, 2007; Page B07

Walter M. Schirra Jr., 84, one of the original seven astronauts and the only man to fly in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs, died of a heart attack May 3 at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, Calif. He also had cancer. ....

Asked later what he thought while sitting on the launchpad, Capt. Schirra replied, "This was all put together by the lowest bidder."

4.249.186.191 05:05, 1 November 2007 (UTC)