May 5, 1961: Shepard is first U.S. astronaut in space

William Atkins
Tuesday, 29 April 2008 20:32

Science - Space

At the time of Shepard's flight into space, the Soviets had already sent Yuri Gagarin into outer space. Gagarin is the first human to go into space and the first human to orbit the Earth.

The United States now claims to be the first country to send a human into space and return him (Shepard) safely to Earth inside his spacecraft.

It was later learned that the Soviet Union ejected Gagarin from his spacecraft, Vostok 1, many minutes before landing so he would parachute back to Earth, separate from the rapidly descending spacecraft.

For additional information on the U.S. Mercury program, please go to NASA’s “Kennedy Space Center Mercury Program.”

Also check out the NASA article “This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury.”

The NASA biography of Alan Shepard appears at: “Alan B. Shepard, Jr.”

His obituary in the New York Times appears at: “Alan B. Shepard Jr. Is Dead at 74; First American to Travel in Space.”