It was a special tribute on what would have been Alan B. Shepard Jr.’s 101st birthday. A restored portrait of the first American in space was unveiled Monday night at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, where ...

Shortly after 9 AM on May 5, 1961, Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. became the second person—and the first American—in space, rocketing to a height of 116.5 miles inside his Mercury capsule. Unlike Soviet ...

50th anniversary of Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 flight. May 5, 2011 — -- Fifty years ago today, astronaut Alan Shepard squeezed into a tiny Mercury capsule and challenged the heavens. He called his ...

Inevitably, there are times in a nation's history when its hopes, fears and confidence in its own destiny appear to hinge on the fate of a single person. One of these pivotal moments occurred on the ...