Moon men ready, Shepard nears 10-year target

The Rhodesia Herald, February 5, 1971 AMERICA’S space pioneer Alan Shepard soared low across the cratered surface of the Moon today the target he set his sights on almost 10 years ago.

The 47-year-old astronaut, normally phlegmatic and terse, burst out excitedly: “Wow, this is a really wild place up here,” as his Apollo 14 space-craft shot into its first orbit of the Moon after a four-day, 250 000-mile coast from the Earth.

He could not mask his excitement, later as he reported jubilantly: “We are here.”

The man who began space flight for the United States on May 6, 1961, with a brief 15-minute dart above the Earth in a Mercury capsule named Freedom 7, but then suffered a serious ear infection, had almost reached his goal.

For him and his two crew members, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa, the mountains of the Moon spread below and the hills and craters were sharply etched by the fierce light of the Sun.

At one point of their orbit they glided only 10km above a six-kilometre mountain peak. Shepard and his crew completed without a hitch the initial manoeuvres before the most critical phase of their outward journey, the descent to the hilly Fra Mauro region for man’s third touchdown on the Moon.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

◆ It is never too late to realise one’s dream. The astronaut in the story only managed to realise his target of reaching the moon after 10 years.

◆ Age is nothing, but just a number. One’s age does not necessarily define who they are or what they can and cannot achieve. In the United States there are no age restrictions for the NASA Astronaut Corps. Astronaut candidates have ranged between the ages of 26 and 46, with the average age being 34. Candidates however, must be US citizens to apply for the programme.

◆ When we are pursuing our goals, it is important to be prepared to face challenges and hurdles head-on like one of the people in the story who had to endure and overcome a serious ear infection.

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