It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract.

He was also project test pilot on the F5D Skylancer and his last five months at Patuxent were spent as an instructor in the Test Pilot School. Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.

He was promoted from Captain to Rear Admiral on August 25 1971. During the mission he hit two golf balls on the lunar surface. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space but not to achieve orbit.