Editing Alan Shepard (section)

==Later years==
[[File:Alan Shepard.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Shepard in 1995]]
Shepard was devoted to his children. Frequently, Julie, Laura and Alice were the only astronauts' children at NASA events. He taught them to ski and took them skiing in [[Colorado]]. He once rented a small plane to fly them and their friends from Texas to a [[summer camp]] in Maine. He doted on his six grandchildren as well. After Apollo 14, he began to spend more time with Louise and started taking her with him on trips to the [[Paris Air Show]] every other year and to Asia.{{sfn|Thompson|2004|pp=439–440}} Louise heard rumors of his affairs.{{sfn|Thompson|2004|p=405}} The publication of Tom Wolfe's 1979 book ''[[The Right Stuff (book)|The Right Stuff]]'' made them public knowledge but she never confronted him about it{{sfn|Thompson|2004|pp=452–453}} nor did she ever contemplate leaving him.{{sfn|Thompson|2004|pp=439–440}}

After Shepard left NASA, he served on the boards of many corporations. He also served as president of his [[umbrella company]] for several business enterprises, Seven Fourteen Enterprises, Inc. (named for his two flights, ''Freedom 7'' and Apollo 14).<ref name="astronautscholarship.org">{{cite web |url=http://astronautscholarship.org/Astronauts/alan-b-shepard-jr/ |title=Alan B. Shepard, Jr. |publisher=Astronaut Scholarship Foundation |access-date=August 15, 2013 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084525/http://astronautscholarship.org/Astronauts/alan-b-shepard-jr/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He made a fortune in banking and real estate.{{sfn|Burgess|2014|p=240}} He was a [[fellow]] of the [[American Astronautical Society]] and the [[Society of Experimental Test Pilots]], a member of [[Rotary International|Rotary]], [[Kiwanis]], the [[Mayflower Society]], the [[Order of the Cincinnati]] and the American Fighter Aces, an honorary member of the board of directors for the Houston School for Deaf Children, and a [[Board of directors|director]] of the [[National Space Institute]] and the Los Angeles Ear Research Institute.<ref name="40th" /> In 1984, together with the other surviving Mercury astronauts and Betty Grissom, Gus Grissom's widow, Shepard founded the Mercury Seven Foundation, which raises money to provide college scholarships to science and engineering students. It was renamed the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation in 1995. Shepard was elected its first president and chairman, positions he held until October 1997, when he was succeeded by former astronaut Jim Lovell.<ref name="40th" />

In 1994, he published a book with two journalists, [[Jay Barbree]] and Howard Benedict, called ''[[Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon]]''. Fellow Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton is also named as an author. The book included a composite photograph showing Shepard hitting a golf ball on the Moon. There are no still images of this event, the only record is TV footage.<ref name="golf" /> The book was turned into a TV [[miniseries]] in 1994.<ref>{{cite news |title=TBS' 'Moon Shot' Rises Above Other TV Fare |first=Mike |last=Drew |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/364383/TBS-MOON-SHOT-RISES-ABOVE-OTHER-TV-FARE.html?pg=all |newspaper=[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|Milwaukee Journal]] |date=July 11, 1994 |access-date=August 15, 2013 |archive-date=June 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629113737/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/364383/TBS-MOON-SHOT-RISES-ABOVE-OTHER-TV-FARE.html?pg=all |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Shepard was diagnosed with [[chronic lymphocytic leukemia]] in 1996 and died from complications of the disease in [[Pebble Beach, California]], on July 21, 1998.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wilford |first=John Noble |date=July 23, 1998 |title=Alan B. Shepard Jr. Is Dead at 74; First American to Travel in Space |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/23/us/alan-b-shepard-jr-is-dead-at-74-first-american-to-travel-in-space.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=March 7, 2016 |archive-date=August 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814063621/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/23/us/alan-b-shepard-jr-is-dead-at-74-first-american-to-travel-in-space.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Thompson|2004|p=462}}<ref name="The moon walkers" /> Following his death, President [[Bill Clinton]] issued a statement of condolences stating "he [Shepard] led our country and all humanity beyond the bounds of our planet, across a truly new frontier, into the new era of space exploration" and "his service will always loom large in America's history".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-signing-the-internal-revenue-service-restructuring-and-reform-act-1998|title=Remarks on Signing the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998|first=William J.|last=Clinton|author-link=Bill Clinton|newspaper=The American Presidency Project|date=July 22, 1998|access-date=August 29, 2024}}</ref> Shepard's widow Louise had planned to cremate his remains and scatter the ashes, but before she was able to do that, she died from a heart attack—on August 25, 1998, at 17:00, which, coincidentally, was the same time of day at which he had always phoned her when they were apart. They had been married for 53 years. Their family decided to cremate them both so their ashes were scattered, together, from a Navy helicopter over Stillwater Cove in front of their Pebble Beach home.{{sfn|Thompson|2004|pp=471–472}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/08/27/louise-shepard-dies-a-month-after-her-astronaut-husband/ |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=August 27, 2016 |title=Louise Shepard Dies A Month After Her Astronaut Husband |access-date=April 22, 2022 |archive-date=March 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320152718/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-08-27/news/9808280089_1_louise-shepard-alan-shepard-original-seven-astronauts |url-status=live }}</ref>

On December 11, 2021, twenty-three years after his death, Shepard's daughter, Laura Shepard Churchley, also flew in space (suborbitally, above the [[Karman line]]) aboard the non-NASA [[Blue Origin]]'s [[New Shepard]] spacecraft on the [[Blue Origin NS-19|NS-19]] mission.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/daughter-pioneering-astronaut-alan-shepard-set-blue-origin-spaceflight-2021-12-11/ |title=Daughter of pioneering astronaut Alan Shepard soars to space aboard Blue Origin rocket |first1=Joe |last1=Skipper |first2=Steve |last2=Gorman |publisher=Reuters |date=December 11, 2021 |access-date=December 11, 2021 |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211194637/https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/daughter-pioneering-astronaut-alan-shepard-set-blue-origin-spaceflight-2021-12-11/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=December 11, 2021 |title=Watch Live: Michael Strahan and the daughter of astronaut Alan Shepard launch to space with Blue Origin |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/blue-origin-launch-space-michael-strahan-laura-shepard-churchley-watch-live-stream-today-2021-12-11/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211124021/https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/blue-origin-launch-space-michael-strahan-laura-shepard-churchley-watch-live-stream-today-2021-12-11/ |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |access-date=December 11, 2021 |work=CBS News}}</ref>