Moon Shot

As one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, Alan Shepard (1923-1998) became the first American in space on May 5, 1961, and a decade later took, with his partner Edgar Mitchell, the longest walk-two miles-on the moon before hitting a golf ball for miles and miles across the lunar landscape.

Another Mercury astronaut, Deke Slayton (1924-1993) was meant to be the second American in Earth orbit, but was grounded because of an irregular heartbeat.He stayed on at NASA to supervise his fellow astronauts and was returned to flight status in 1972. In 1975, after sixteen years as head of the astronaut office, Slayton made it into space for the historic first docking of an American and a Russian spacecraft, a step that was a long stride on the road to end the Cold War.

Jay Barbree (b. 1933) is the author of eight books and has been NBC's space correspondent since the birth of NASA. He shared an Emmy Award for NBC's coverage of Apollo 11's first landing on the moon, and is a recipient of NASA's highest medal for Exceptional Public Service.