William McMichael "Bill" Shepherd (born July 26, 1949), (

Capt Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

USN The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

, Ret.), is an American former

Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

, and

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

, and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

, who served as Commander of

Expedition 1 Expedition 1 was the first long-duration stay on the International Space Station (ISS). The three-person crew stayed aboard the station for 136 days, from November 2000 to March 2001. It was the beginning of an uninterrupted human presence on the ...

, the first crew on the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

. He is a recipient of the

Congressional Space Medal of Honor The Congressional Space Medal of Honor was authorized by the United States Congress in 1969 to recognize "any astronaut who in the performance of his or her duties has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious efforts and con ...

Education and training

Shepherd was born on July 26, 1949, to George R. Shepherd and Barbara Shepherd in

Oak Ridge, Tennessee Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of downtown Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 31,402 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Oak ...

, but he considers

Babylon, New York The Town of Babylon is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Its population was 218,223 as of the 2020 census. Parts of Jones Beach Island, Captree Island and Fire Island are in the southernmost part of the town. It bord ...

, his hometown. He is married to Beth Stringham of

Batavia, New York Batavia is a city in and the county seat of Genesee County, New York, United States. It is near the center of the county, surrounded by the Town of Batavia, which is a separate municipality. Batavia's population as of the 2020 census was 15,6 ...

. He graduated from Arcadia High School in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

in 1967, and received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

Aerospace Engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

in 1971. He completed Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training in 1972, then joined the

United States Naval Special Warfare Command The United States Naval Special Warfare Command (USNSWC), also known as (NAVSPECWARCOM and WARCOM), is the naval component of United States Special Operations Command, the unified command responsible for overseeing and conducting the nation's ...

and qualified as a

. He served with the Navy's Underwater Demolition Team ELEVEN, SEAL Teams ONE and TWO, and Special Boat Unit TWENTY. He obtained an

Engineer's degree An engineer's degree is an advanced academic degree in engineering which is conferred in Europe, some countries of Latin America, North Africa and a few institutions in the United States. The degree may require a thesis but always requires a non-a ...

Ocean Engineering Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circl ...

and a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

, both in 1978, from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT).

NASA career

After Shepherd was selected for

NASA Astronaut Group 10 NASA Astronaut Group 10 (nicknamed "The Maggots") was a group of 17 NASA Astronaut Groups, astronauts that were announced on May 23, 1984 and consisted of seven pilots and ten mission specialists. Although selected in 1984, no member of the group ...

in 1984, rumors spread that he had answered a standard interview question about what he did best by saying, "kill people with knives" but he later refused to confirm or deny the account, commenting "it's too good a story". He was the first military non-aviator in astronaut training, following his unsuccessful application for

NASA Astronaut Group 9 NASA Astronaut Group 9 was a group of 19 NASA astronauts announced on May 29, 1980, and completed their training by 1981. This group was selected to supplement the 35 astronauts that had been selected in 1978, and marked the first time that no ...

in 1980. In 1986, Shepherd's Navy SEAL training proved unexpectedly useful to

as he helped to direct the underwater salvage operations of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' after its

destruction Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger * Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism * Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kind ...

. Shepherd then served as a Mission Specialist on three

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

flights: mission

STS-27 STS-27 was the 27th NASA Space Shuttle mission, and the third flight of Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. Launching on December 2, 1988, on a four-day mission, it was the second shuttle flight after the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster of Janu ...

in 1988, mission STS-41 in 1990, which deployed the ''

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

'' probe, and mission STS-52 in 1992. He was the first member of

to fly a space mission. From March 1993 to January 1996, he was assigned to the

International Space Station Program The International Space Station programme is tied together by a complex set of legal, political and financial agreements between the fifteen nations involved in the project, governing ownership of the various components, rights to crewing and ...

, serving as Program Manager and Deputy Program Manager. In November 1995 he was selected to command the first crew of the International Space Station (ISS). The mission was supposed to launch in 1997, but a long series of political, financial, and technical problems caused significant delays. Although sixteen nations would participate in the ISS program, Russia, along with the United States would bear the majority of the station's costs.

Spaceflight experience

: ''Atlantis'' (December 2–6, 1988) Shepherd served with his crewmates on a mission that lasted 105 hours and carried

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

payloads. The mission is noteworthy due to the severe damage ''Atlantis'' sustained to its critical heat-resistant tiles during ascent. STS-41: ''Discovery'' (October 6–10, 1990) during 66 orbits of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

, the crew aboard the Orbiter successfully deployed the ''

'', starting it on a four-year journey (via

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

) to investigate the polar regions of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. STS-52: ''Columbia'' (October 22 to November 1, 1992) was the 10-day mission deployed the Laser Geodynamic Satellite (LAGEOS), and conducted U.S. microgravity payload experiments.

: From October 31, 2000, to March 21, 2001, he and Russian

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Yuri Gidzenko Yuri Pavlovich Gidzenko (russian: link=no, Юрий Павлович Гидзенко; born March 26, 1962) is a Russian cosmonaut. He was a test cosmonaut of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (TsPK). Gidzenko has flown into space thre ...

and Sergey Krikalev launched from Baikonur on Soyuz TM 31 and served as

, the first crew on board ISS. The crew returned to Earth on the Space Shuttle Discovery, STS 102. Shepherd has logged over 159 days in

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

Post-NASA career

Shepherd was next assigned to the staff of Commander,

Naval Special Warfare Command The United States Naval Special Warfare Command (USNSWC), also known as (NAVSPECWARCOM and WARCOM), is the naval component of United States Special Operations Command, the unified command responsible for overseeing and conducting the nation's ...

, to assist with the development of new capabilities and programs for the Navy's SEAL and Special Boat units. He retired from the U.S. Navy in January 2002. Capt Shepherd also served as U.S. Special Operations Command's first Science Advisor from 2008–2011.

Organizations

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

(AIAA)

Awards and honors

William Shepherd Awarded Russian Medal for Merit in Space Exploration

*NASA's " Steve Thorne" Aviation Award *2004 inductee into the

International Space Hall of Fame The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a museum and planetarium complex in Alamogordo, New Mexico dedicated to artifacts and displays related to space flight and the Space Age. It includes the International Space Hall of Fame. The Museum of S ...

*2009 inductee into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. *Honorary

Naval Aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The (; FAI; en, World Air Sports Federation) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintai ...

V. M. Komarov Diploma *Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. Tr ...

Gold Medal *Spirit of St Louis Medal * Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy *

Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" The Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (russian: Медаль "За заслуги в освоении космоса") is a state decoration of the Russian Federation aimed at recognising achievements in the space program. It was established ...

*In 2009, the International Space Station Program team, which Capt. Shepherd led both on the ground, and in space, was awarded the

Collier Trophy The Robert J. Collier Trophy is an annual aviation award administered by the U.S. National Aeronautic Association (NAA), presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to im ...

References

External links

Shepherd's official NASA biographyShepherd at International Space Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepherd, William M. 1949 births Living people 1988 in spaceflight 1990 in spaceflight 1992 in spaceflight 2000 in spaceflight United States Navy astronauts Commanders of the International Space Station Crew members of the International Space Station United States Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee People from Babylon, New York United States Naval Academy alumni Military personnel from New York (state) Military personnel from Tennessee MIT School of Engineering alumni United States Navy captains United States Navy SEALs personnel American aerospace engineers American mechanical engineers NASA people Recipients of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor Recipients of the Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" Recipients of the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement Space Shuttle program astronauts