Apollo 14
February 5, 1971
Alan Shepard landed on the Moon today. The first American in space — Freedom 7, fifteen minutes, May 1961 — landed on another world at Fra Mauro. He is forty-seven years old. He waited ten years for this. His first words on the surface: "It's been a long way, but…
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February 5, 1971
Alan Shepard walked on the Moon today. The first American in space, fifteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds in 1961, just hit a golf ball on the lunar surface.
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Apollo 7
October 22, 1968
Eleven days in orbit. All systems tested. Three men home safe. Schirra had a head cold the whole time, which made him even more cantankerous than usual with Mission Control. But more importantly: they broadcast live television from space for the first time. The picture was shaky. The men were…
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Apollo 7
October 11, 1968
Apollo 7 launched this morning. For the first time since the fire twenty-one months ago, American astronauts are in space. Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walt Cunningham rode a Saturn IB into orbit and the spacecraft worked. I watched from home. I was not entirely certain, until I saw the…
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