Astronauts Laud Shepard at Space Center Ceremony

In a heartfelt memorial, the four remaining members of the Mercury 7 astronauts paid tribute Saturday to Alan B. Shepard Jr., who led them and all of America into space.

“Alan Shepard was many things,” said Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), who at age 77 is scheduled to fly into space again in October. “He was a patriot, he was a leader, he was a competitor, a fierce competitor. He was a hero. Most importantly to us, he was a close friend.”

Mercury 7 astronauts Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper were among more than 850 people attending the Johnson Space Center ceremony.

“The brotherhood we have will endure forever,” Schirra said. “I’ll make it, I know that.”

Shepard was 74 when he died in his sleep July 21 while being treated for leukemia at a Monterey, Calif., hospital.

It was Shepard’s 15-minute flight on May 5, 1961, aboard the Freedom 7 Mercury spacecraft that made the United States a contender in the race for the moon.

Ten years later, he became one of 12 people who have walked on the moon.

His widow, Louise, and daughters Alice, Julie and Laura joined NASA officials outdoors, where they ceremoniously shoveled dirt on a live oak placed in Shepard’s memory at Johnson Space Center. He was buried earlier in California.