60 years ago, Alan Shepard became the first American in space
On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American — and the second man — to travel in space when he launched a 15-minute, sub-orbital flight aboard NASA’s Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7. (Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had completed one orbit of the Earth on April 12, about three weeks earlier.) Shepard, whose mission ushered ... Read More»
