A photograph of pioneering American astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (1923-1998) in his Apollo XIV astronaut suit, signed in black felt tip marker as "To K. Lester / Alan Shepard" in the upper left corner. The glossy color photograph was printed in Kodak professional photo paper. The lower right corner is slightly blunted, else near fine. 8" x 10." Pre-approved by Zarelli Space Authentication.

One of the Mercury Seven astronauts selected by NASA in 1959, Shepard was the first American in space and the only one among the original cohort to walk on the moon. Shepard piloted the test flight Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, on May 5, 1961. During the mission, which lasted 15 minutes and 28 seconds, Shepard's spacecraft entered space but could not orbit. Nevertheless, Shepard's test flight confirmed that American space technology could handle the challenges posed by launch and re-entry. Shepard missed being the first human in space by only three weeks. Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) had orbited Earth aboard Vostok I in mid-April 1961.

Nearly ten years later, Shepard had the opportunity to return to space when he participated in the Apollo XIV mission conducted between January 31-February 9, 1971. Shepard was Commander of a 3-person crew comprised of himself, Command Module Pilot Stuart A. Roosa (1933-1994), and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell (1930-2016). The Apollo XIV mission marked several notable firsts: the first successful foray into the lunar highlands, and the longest distance thus traveled by foot on the lunar surface. Nearly 100 lbs of geological samples were collected during the mission.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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