Today in History 05/05/18

Astronaut Alan Shepard poses in the Mercury spacecraft in 1961 (© AP)(1961) Mercury program sends the first American into space
Naval officer, test pilot, and astronaut Alan Shepard pilots the Mercury-Redstone 3 mission as he takes a 15-minute suborbital flight to become the first American in outer space. A decade later he’ll venture somewhat farther and visit the moon.
Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first manned flight of Project Mercury, the objective of which was to put an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and return him safely. Shepard’s mission was a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary objective of demonstrating his ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry.
Mission start: May 05, 1961
Mission end: May 05, 1961
Astronaut: Alan Shepard
Space program: Project Mercury

Alan Shepard during Mercury-Redstone 3
Still frame of Alan Shepard taken by a motion picture camera aboard Freedom 7
wiki/Mercury-Redstone_3
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(1961) Mercury program sends the first American into space.
Also on this day,
1260 | Khan rules Mongols
1921 | `A woman`s perfume`
1981 | Hunger striker dies

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