Rear Admiral Alan Bartlett "Al" Shepard, Jr., (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts, and businessman, who in May 1961 became the second person and the first American to travel into space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit.  Read more..

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After Yuri Gagarin with a special postmark put into circulation on April 12, 2016, the Post of Moldova ("Poşta Moldovei") issued on May 5, 2016, another cancellation this time devoted to the 55th anniversary of the first manned space flight by US astronaut Alan B. Shepard (1923-1998). It is that postmark from Chișinău (MD-2012) which was applied to the special envelope below, published by the Post of Moldova in 2015 (No. 7/2015, print run : 5000, design: Corina Levco) having space for theme. Read more..