Whenever you feel down, remember this.

Al Shepard became the first American in space in 1961, when he rocketed to great heights aboard a modified Redstone ICBM. The flight lasted only 15 minutes, and was quickly overshadowed by other accomplishments in the early days of the space race.

Soon after his flight, he began to suffer from Ménière's disease, a condition that can wreak havoc to the inner ear. In the realm of astronaut selection, even the slightest health problem can keep a person grounded for life, and it looked like Al's first flight might also have been his last. However, after almost a decade of waiting, at the ripe old age of 47, the highest age of any Apollo astronaut by far, he managed to find an expert who could surgically repair his inner ear. He was re-circulated into the astronaut selection group, and after years of hard training, he was slated to fly on Apollo 14, which landed on the moon 44 years ago today.

Among his scheduled science activities during his two day mission, he found time at the end of his spacewalk to have a little fun. He took a genuine 6 iron on his trip to the moon, and attached it to the sample collector (pooper scooper). He then made the unofficial longest drive in history, hurling a golf ball for miles in the moons weak gravity.

He made it, he actually fucking made it. RIP you beautiful bastard, one giant loss for mankind.