Mercury-Redstone 3
AgencyNASA
Year1961
TypeSuborbital
RocketRedstone
CountryUSA
About the Mission
Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, 1961, just 23 days after Gagarin. The flight lasted 15 minutes and reached 187 km altitude. Shepard was launched, splashed down, and recovered by helicopter. He later walked on the Moon as commander of Apollo 14. The capsule was named Freedom 7.
Related Missions
Apollo 11
First humans on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Eagle on July 20, 1969 while Mic...
Apollo 13
An oxygen tank exploded 200,000 miles from Earth. The famous words Houston, we have had a problem. T...
Mercury-Atlas 6
John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962. Completed three orbits in ...
Gemini 4
Ed White performed the first American spacewalk on June 3, 1965. He was so reluctant to return that ...