Alan Shepard – Spaceflight Now

September 26, 2023

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55 years ago today: America entered human spaceflight arena

May 5, 2016 Justin Ray

The U.S. launched its first man into space on this date, May 5, 1961, as Alan Shepard rode the Freedom 7 capsule on a 15-minute suborbital flight to 116.5 miles in altitude and 303 miles downrange to splashdown.