Later, in the early teens, I used to ride my bike every Saturday morning to the nearest airport, ten miles away, push airplanes in and out of the hangars, and clean up the hangars.

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.