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Interview with Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
10
program domestically and abroad, and at the same time allow
us a certain amount of freedom to participate in our own
requirements.
Mr. Sohier: You remember there was a certain amount of
rhubarb after the Cooper flight as to whether there would
or wouldn't be another flight, and I believe you were
involved in some conversations, or at least one conversation,
with President Kennedy on that. Could you fill in some of
the detail of that discussion?
Commander Shepard: Yes. The flight which was to be desig-
nated MA-10 had been assigned to me. The Atlas missile and
the hardware were already at the Cape being checked out; as
a matter of fact, I had run several preliminary tests of
the spacecraft at the time of Cooper's flight.
We visited with President and Mrs. Kennedy in the evening
of the 21st of May, 1963. Cooper had come to Washington in
the morning. They had presented him with the [NASA]
Distinguished Service Medal in the Rose Garden, and we had
a very short informal conversation with the President in
his office afterwards--nothing as lengthy as occurred after
my flight, but the six of us (John Glenn and his wife were
missing) and our wives were invited back for just a social
get-together with the President and Mrs. Kennedy in the
evening. There was a total of only 14 people there; it was
a small, warm, friendly gathering.
Mr. Sohier: Walt Williams was there, wasn't he?
Commander Shepard: No, sir.
Mr. Sohier: Just the astronauts, was it?
Commander Shepard: That's right.
Mr. Sohier: And what transpired there? Was there any
discussion of another flight or about the space program?

Document source description

Interview with Alan Shepard for the John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program by Walter Sohier, General Counsel, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. June 12, 1964 Houston, Texas

Page data

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Source index: 0
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Media ID: 858bbbd76450b7bc
Size: unknown

Document data

ID: 193652
Core: doc
Type: document

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Context sent to Scholar

Document identity

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Document source metadata

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Document source extras

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Page context

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"ocrText": "Interview with Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr.\n10\nprogram domestically and abroad, and at the same time allow\nus a certain amount of freedom to participate in our own\nrequirements.\nMr. Sohier: You remember there was a certain amount of\nrhubarb after the Cooper flight as to whether there would\nor wouldn't be another flight, and I believe you were\ninvolved in some conversations, or at least one conversation,\nwith President Kennedy on that. Could you fill in some of\nthe detail of that discussion?\nCommander Shepard: Yes. The flight which was to be desig-\nnated MA-10 had been assigned to me. The Atlas missile and\nthe hardware were already at the Cape being checked out; as\na matter of fact, I had run several preliminary tests of\nthe spacecraft at the time of Cooper's flight.\nWe visited with President and Mrs. Kennedy in the evening\nof the 21st of May, 1963. Cooper had come to Washington in\nthe morning. They had presented him with the [NASA]\nDistinguished Service Medal in the Rose Garden, and we had\na very short informal conversation with the President in\nhis office afterwards--nothing as lengthy as occurred after\nmy flight, but the six of us (John Glenn and his wife were\nmissing) and our wives were invited back for just a social\nget-together with the President and Mrs. Kennedy in the\nevening. There was a total of only 14 people there; it was\na small, warm, friendly gathering.\nMr. Sohier: Walt Williams was there, wasn't he?\nCommander Shepard: No, sir.\nMr. Sohier: Just the astronauts, was it?\nCommander Shepard: That's right.\nMr. Sohier: And what transpired there? Was there any\ndiscussion of another flight or about the space program?"
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