William M. Shepherd's Birth Card: The 2 of Clubs

In the record

William McMichael Shepherd (born July 26, 1949), (Capt, USN, Ret.), is an American former Navy SEAL, aerospace, ocean, and mechanical engineer, and NASA astronaut, who served as commander of Expedition 1, the first crew on the International Space Station. The birth-card coordinate for July 26 is the 2 of Clubs — a calendar position, not a forecast of a flight assignment.

The 2 of Clubs coordinate

William M. Shepherd's birthday maps to the 2 of Clubs (The Collaborative Builder). Card Blueprints treats that as a 365-day coordinate: solar value = 55 − (2 × month + day), and the year is unused. It is not a prediction about a mission and not a verdict on William M. Shepherd. The card's own language, quoted as system copy rather than biography: You think with someone else and still leave the conversation with a position of your own.

Live 2 of Clubs meaning page

William M. Shepherd in the public record

He is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Shepherd was born on July 26, 1949, to George R. Shepherd and Barbara Shepherd in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, but he considers Babylon, New York, his hometown. He is married to Beth Stringham of Batavia, New York. He graduated from Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona in 1967, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1971. He completed Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training in 1972, then joined the United States Naval Special Warfare Command and qualified as a Navy SEAL. He served with the Navy's Underwater Demolition Team ELEVEN, SEAL Teams ONE and TWO, and Special Boat Unit TWENTY. He obtained an Engineer's degree in Ocean Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, both in 1978, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Summarised from the lead section of the Wikipedia article William Shepherd (CC BY-SA 4.0). No biographical facts were written for this page beyond that article.

Where the record meets the King of Hearts

A card is a calendar coordinate, not a cause. What follows sets one line of the card's own published language beside one sentence of the sourced record, paired by a documented rule. It is a resemblance offered for the reader to weigh — not a claim about William M. Shepherd, and not a forecast of a spaceflight.

You hold emotional authority without hiding behind it. You carry authority in the realm of feeling—the maturity and depth to lead others emotionally and hold space with real strength. At your best, you command emotional situations with both power and authentic care, the steady presence people anchor to.

William McMichael Shepherd (born July 26, 1949), (Capt, USN, Ret.), is an American former Navy SEAL, aerospace, ocean, and mechanical engineer, and NASA astronaut, who served as commander of Expedition 1, the first crew on the International Space Station.

Paired on shared wording: commander, space.

Also on the record

1. After Shepherd was selected for NASA Astronaut Group 10 in 1984, rumors spread that he had answered a standard interview question about what he did best by saying, "kill people with knives" but he later refused to confirm or deny the account, commenting "it's too good a story".
2. He was the first military non-aviator in astronaut training, following his unsuccessful application for NASA Astronaut Group 9 in 1980.
3. In 1986, Shepherd's Navy SEAL training proved unexpectedly useful to NASA as he helped to direct the underwater salvage operations of the Space Shuttle Challenger after its destruction.
4. Shepherd then served as a mission specialist on three Space Shuttle flights: mission STS-27 in 1988, mission STS-41 in 1990, which deployed the Ulysses probe, and mission STS-52 in 1992.

Other astronauts with this card

• Alan B. Shepard Jr. — NASA Group 1 · Deceased · 2 flights
• J. Mike Lounge — NASA Group 9 · Deceased · 3 flights
• Mark N. Brown — NASA Group 10 · Former · 2 flights
• Michael E. Lopez-Alegria — NASA Group 14 · Former · 3 flights
• Neil W. Woodward III — NASA Group 17 · Former · selected, no flights in the Fact Book table
• Richard N. Richards — NASA Group 9 · Former · 4 flights
• Robert L. Satcher Jr. — NASA Group 19 · Former · 1 flight
• Steven W. Lindsey — NASA Group 15 · Former · 5 flights
• William S. McArthur Jr. — NASA Group 3 · Former · 4 flights

FAQ

What is William M. Shepherd's birth card?

The 2 of Clubs. July 26 maps to that card through the public Card Blueprints formula. The year of birth is not used.

Does a birth card predict a spaceflight?

No. These pages are coordinates, not fortune-telling. A birth card names a calendar day in a 52-card year. It does not forecast missions, character, or fate.

Where do William M. Shepherd's dates come from?

Birth date 1949-07-26 is the day-precision date on William M. Shepherd's NASA astronaut biography (NASA Group 10 · Former · 4 flights), verified against Wikidata P569 (CC0, day precision, Gregorian preferred). The two sources match. Year-only NASA dates and NASA↔Wikidata conflicts are dropped, not guessed. Page hooks and evidence come from the Wikipedia REST summary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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