William Shepherd

Captain William Shepherd graduated from the US Naval Academy and was commissioned in the US Navy in 1971. He completed Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training in 1972 and was subsequently assigned to SEAL Team ONE, spending two years as a platoon commander in Korea, the Philippines, and Alaska.

Shepherd attended the Navy's Naval Construction and Engineering program at MIT, graduating in 1978 with the degrees of Ocean Engineer and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He returned to the Special Warfare community and was deployed as a platoon commander in operations in El Salvador, Honduras, Grenada, and Beirut. NASA selected him in 1984 as an Astronaut Candidate. After a year of astronaut training at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Shepherd was assigned to work pad "closeout" operations for Space Shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center. He was involved in the underwater search and salvage of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. Shepherd flew three Shuttle missions as a Mission Specialist and flight engineer: STS 27 which carried a Department of Defense payload, STS 41 that launched the solar probe "Ulysses", and STS 52 which carried the LAGEOS research satellite to orbit.

In 1993, he was assigned as the Program Manager for the International Space Station, and in 1996, he was selected to form a crew with Russian Cosmonauts Col. Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, and command the first crew to the new station. After 5 years of training in Moscow and Houston, the "Expedition One" crew launched in October 2000 and began permanent human operations aboard the 100-ton Space Station "Alpha" complex. The crew returned to Earth in March 2001 after 141 days in space. Following his NASA career, Shepherd served as a Science Advisor to U.S. Special Operations Command, overseeing technology portfolios, and is currently involved in private industry, focusing on research and development in aerospace, defense, and high-tech sectors.

Captain Shepherd retired from active duty in January 2002 and remains on staff as a civilian engineer. He is married to the former Beth Stringham of Houston, Texas, the chief strength and conditioning specialist for the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Shepherd's contributions to aerospace and his leadership have earned him several prestigious awards, including the Spirit of St. Louis Medal, the Gagarin Gold Medal, the Robert H. Goddard Trophy, and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. He enjoys speaking on topics such as teamwork, technology, and education, drawing from his experiences in aviation, space, and special operations, and tailors his speeches to the interests of his audience, often discussing leadership and successful teamwork within diverse, international groups.