William Shepherd, Captain, USN (Retired)
Advisor for Science and Technology
William "Shep" Shepherd graduated from the US Naval Academy and was commissioned in the US Navy in 1971. He completed Basic Underwater Demolition Team (UDT)/SEAL training in 1972, reported to UDT-11, and deployed to the Western Pacific including Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines. CAPT Shepherd was subsequently assigned to SEAL Team ONE and as a platoon commander, deploying to Korea, the Philippines, and Alaska.
CAPT 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 as a platoon commander and operations officer at SEAL Team TWO. Between 1981 and 1983 he was assigned to a Navy field unit where he worked on classified developmental projects. CAPT Shepherd assumed command of Special Boat Unit TWENTY in 1983, conducting deployments and operations in El Salvador, Honduras, Grenada, and Beirut. He applied to NASA for the Astronaut Program in 1984, and was selected as one of 17 candidates in Astronaut Group 10.
After a year of astronaut training at Johnson Space Center in Houston, CAPT Shepherd was assigned to work pad "closeout" operations for Space Shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center. He helped direct the underwater search and salvage of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. "Shep" flew 3 Shuttle missions as a Mission Specialist Astronaut and flight engineer-STS 27 in 1988, carrying a DOD payload, STS 41 launching the solar probe “Ulysses” in 1990, and STS 52 in 1992, which carried the LAGEOS research satellite to orbit.
In 1993, CAPT Shepherd was assigned as the Program Manager for the International Space Station, a 16-nation partnership to build a new orbital "gateway" to space. CAPT Shepherd led a 12,000 person government/industry team to guide the technical, management, and operational details of the new program. CAPT Shepherd helped to establish NASA’s unprecedented relationship with Russian government and aerospace leaders, and to integrate their equipment, techniques, and procedures into this truly "international" effort.
In 1996, "Shep" was selected to form a flight 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 to orbit in Oct 2000 and began permanent human operations aboard the 100-ton Space Station complex. "Expedition One" activated the Russian and American modules, supervised 3 Space Shuttle and 2 “Progress” vehicle dockings, and carried out assembly, checkout and initial operations of 3 new station modules. After 141 days in space, and a voyage of 58,000,000 miles, the crew returned to Earth in March 2001.
In July of 2001, he returned to the SEAL community and completed a 30 year Navy career with an assignment to Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command, assisting with the development of new capabilities and programs for the SEALs and Special Boat sailors of tomorrow. He retired from active duty in Jan. 2002.
CAPT Shepherd's personal awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the National Intelligence Medal, NASA’s "Steve Thorne" airmanship award, the Komarov Diploma, the Robert H. Goddard Trophy, and the Gagarin Gold Medal for achievement in human spaceflight. In January 2003, in Washington D.C., CAPT Shepherd was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush. CAPT Shepherd is presently helping to develop new technologies and capabilities for a broad range of military, government, and commercial clients.