Mass Effect: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Shepard
7. His Birthday Is The Same Day As The Apollo 13 Launch
Here's another interesting titbit about everyone's favourite Commander on the Citadel: their birthday is in fact exactly the same date as the Apollo 13 launch!
The infamous spaceflight which was nearly an absolutely disaster and one of the most amazing stories in history officially launched on April 11th, 1970. In Mass Effect's canonical lore, Shepard's official birthday is April 11th, 2154.
If you're unfamiliar with Apollo 13, it was a mission to the moon where complications arose long before they got there. Internal damage to the craft caused several malfunctions, forcing a mission to save the lives of the astronauts to be improvised quickly at Houston command. All three thankfully managed to return to Earth safely after a harrowing experience.
The fact that Shepard's birthday ties in with this date is likely another subtle nod by Bioware to space exploration as a whole, and also to Alan Shepard, who we've already established inspired Shepard's name. Originally, Alan Shepard was meant to be the person in charge of the Apollo 13 mission; however, concerns over the inexperience of Shepard's crew had them sidelined, and they would officially instead take over the Apollo 14 mission.