The sky has never been the limit for Laura Shepard Churchley, JK, Evergreen, Colorado. As the oldest daughter of astronaut Alan Shepard, she learned from a young age that there’s muchmore of the world to explore than life on Earth. Laura recalls one of many evenings spent in the backyard with her family, looking at stars and constellations. On this particular night in 1957, they were looking for a shiny red ball in the night sky—the Sputnik satellite, which had been successfully launched by the Soviet Union. “We spotted it and Daddy was so mad because it wasn’t America,” says Laura. The space race had begun. The following year, the United States initiated Project Mercury, the country’s first man-in-space program. Alan Shepard was one of seven astronauts chosen for the mission and in 1961 was the first American to enter space. Ten years later he commanded the Apollo 14 mission and became the fifthman to walk on the moon. In the 60s and 70s, with America fully behind the space program, the eyes of the nation were glued to television sets for every space launch and astronauts became huge stars. They and their families were thrust into the spotlight. “It was a bit of a challenge,” says Laura. “Overnight everybody would recognize Daddy no matter where we went. People wanted to talk to him and shake his hand. We didn’t go out often but when we did, people would stop him constantly and it definitely slowed us down.” Laura’s mother, Louise Brewer Shepard, who was a member of Chapter AY, Houston, Texas, from 1966 until her passing in 1998, often told the story that whenever she and Alan would go to a restaurant, the maître d’ would lead them to a table, pull the chair out for her to sit down, she’d turn around and Alan would not be there. Invariably, he would have been stopped on the way to the table by people wanting to meet him and shake his hand. Louise would then chat with the maître d’, getting to know themwhile she waited for her husband. Laura laughs, “Mother joked she was on a first-name basis withmaître ds in every restaurant in the country.” Louise, Laura and the rest of the Shepard family tried to handle Alan’s fame with good humor and grace. “We had wonderful times, too,” said Laura, “like being in ticker tape parades in all the big cities, we got to have dinner at theWhite House and we met presidents andmovie stars.” Laura went to boarding school in Saint Louis, Missouri, from 8th-12th grades. She then attended Principia College, her mother’s alma mater, in Elsah, Illinois, where she studied art and art history. It was there she met her first husband. After they had children, Laura was thrilled to be a full-time momwhile continuing to support and promote the work her father started as a pioneer in the U.S. space program. “The sky is not the limit...we have footprints on the moon.”
Laura (center) at her high school graduation with her P.E.O. mother, Louise, and astronaut father, Alan
Throughout her life, Laura has remained passionate about educating people, especially the younger generations, about space exploration. She now serves as chair of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Board of Trustees. The Foundation, created in 1984 by her father and five other Mercury 7 astronauts, raises funds for the brightest andmost talented college students in science, technology, engineering andmathematics and provides mentoring to scholars pursuing careers and research in those fields. Scholarships go to outstanding college juniors and seniors. “They are absolutely brilliant,” says Laura. When asked if she ever thought she’d see commercial space flight in her lifetime, Laura
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May–June 2022 | THE P.E.O. RECORD
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