Shepard Space Capsule Leaving Naval Academy
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- The space capsule that carried the first American into space is leaving the Naval Academy.
The Freedom 7 capsule carried academy graduate Alan Shepard into space in 1961 in a 15-minute Project Mercury suborbital flight. The capsule is heading to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library in Boston. The academy says the NASA space capsule arrived at the school in 1998 and has been on display since then at its visitor center, where it will be until the end of February.
The Naval Academy says it has produced 52 astronauts, more than any other college or university in the nation.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
