On May 5, 1961, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American to go to space. Discover more space history 👉 https://trib.al/a6Mhaea He launched from Cape Canaveral on a Mercury-Redstone rocket in a space capsule named Freedom 7. This was the first manned flight of Project Mercury, which NASA created to put astronauts in orbit. Shepard launched just three weeks after the Soviet Union launched the first person into orbit. Shepard's flight was suborbital and lasted only 15 minutes, but he

On this day in history, Alan Shepard launched aboard a Mercury capsule to become the first American in space. This 15-minute suborbital journey in 1961 led to big plans for human spaceflight, including the goal to send humans to the Moon. https://go.nasa.gov/3eiRcCO | NASA's Johnson Space Center

#OTD in 1961, Naval aviator Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into space. Graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1944, Shepard became one of the Mercury Seven astronauts in 1959. He would walk on the moon in 1971 as commander of Apollo 14. #NationalAstronautDay | U.S. Naval Institute