List of United States Naval Academy alumni
Name Class year Notability
Alan Shepard 1945 Rear Admiral ; World War II veteran ; Navy test pilot ; first U.S. Astronaut in space on board Mercury-Redstone 3 and only Mercury Seven astronaut to walk on the Moon . He commanded the Apollo 14 mission
Walter Schirra 1946 Captain ; World War II veteran ; was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts chosen for the Project Mercury , America 's first effort to put humans in space . He was the only person to fly in all of America 's first three space programs ( Mercury , Gemini and Apollo ) . He logged a total of 295 hours and 15 minutes in space . Fifth American and the ninth human to ride a rocket into space . He was the first person to go into space three times
James Irwin 1951 Colonel ( USAF ) ; U.S. Astronaut , Aeronautical Engineer , Test Pilot , and a United States Air Force Pilot . He served as Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 15 , the fourth human lunar landing . He was the eighth person to walk on the Moon and the first , and youngest , of those astronauts to die
Jim Lovell 1952 Served in the Korean War ; Navy test pilot ; astronaut participating in Gemini 7 , Gemini 12 , Apollo 8 , and commanding the ill-fated Apollo 13 , which he brought back safely
William Anders 1955 Apollo 8 Command Pilot , first human crew to orbit the moon and most notably , Anders took the famous Earthrise photograph
Charles F. Bolden , Jr 1968 Major general ; United States Marine Corps test pilot ; pilot of STS-61-C and STS-31 ; commanded STS-45 and STS-60 ; nominated in 2009 to be NASA Administrator
Ken Bowersox 1978 Pilot of STS-50 , commanded STS-61 , STS-73 , STS-82 and International Space Station Expedition 6
Wendy B. Lawrence 1981 Navy helicopter pilot ; mission specialist for STS-67 , STS-86 , STS-91 , and STS-114 ; daughter of William P. Lawrence , who was superintendent of the academy while she was a midshipman . William Lawrence had been a finalist in the Mercury astronaut selection
The United States Naval Academy (USNA) is an undergraduate college in Annapolis, Maryland with the mission of educating and commissioning officers for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The Academy was founded in 1845 and graduated its first class in 1846. The Academy is often referred to as Annapolis, while sports media refer to the Academy as Navy and the students as Midshipmen; this usage is officially endorsed. During the latter half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th, the United States Naval Academy was the primary source of U.S. Navy and Marine Corps officers, with the Class of 1881 being the first to provide officers to the Marine Corps. Graduates of the Academy are also given the option of entering the United States Army or United States Air Force. Most Midshipmen are admitted through the congressional appointment system. The curriculum emphasizes various fields of engineering. The list is drawn from graduates, non-graduate former Midshipmen, current Midshipmen, and faculty of the Naval Academy. Over 50 U.S. astronauts have graduated from the Naval Academy, more than from any other undergraduate institution. [a] Over 990 noted scholars from a variety of academic fields are Academy graduates, including 45 Rhodes Scholars and 16 Marshall Scholars. Additional notable graduates include 1 President of the United States, 2 Nobel Prize recipients, and 73 Medal of Honor recipients. [b]