USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -On May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard became the first American in space during a suborbital flight aboard his Mercury capsule named Freedom 7 . Three weeks later, based on the success of Shepard’s brief flight, President John F. Kennedy committed the United States to achieving a lunar landing before the end of the decade.

Detailed explanation-2: -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.)

Detailed explanation-3: -Of these magnificent seven, America’s first astronauts, NASA chose Shepard to become the first American to travel into space. Meanwhile, the first American to orbit Earth was John Glenn, aboard Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962. Trajectory of Alan Shepard’s flight aboard Freedom 7 on May 5, 1961.

Detailed explanation-4: -On May 5, 1961, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space.

Detailed explanation-5: -Shepard gets selected “Not because of the fame or the recognition, ” Shepard once said, “but because America’s best test pilots went through this selection process, down to seven guys, and of those seven, I was the one to go.”