On May 5, 1961, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American to go to space.
He launched from Cape Canaveral on a Mercury-Redstone rocket in a space capsule named Freedom 7. This was the first manned flight of Project Mercury, which NASA created to put astronauts in orbit. Shepard launched just three weeks after the Soviet Union launched the first person into orbit. Shepard's flight was suborbital and lasted only 15 minutes, but he did experience weightlessness. During the flight, he tested the capsule's attitude control system and retrorockets, which would be used to help future orbital missions land. He reached an altitude of 116 miles before he parachuted back down to Earth. The Freedom 7 space capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas. The capsule tilted over onto its side after the landing, but it slowly turned itself upright after about a minute of bobbing in the water. Recovery teams arrived by helicopter and quickly helped him out of the water, and the mission was deemed a huge success.
He launched from Cape Canaveral on a Mercury-Redstone rocket in a space capsule named Freedom 7. This was the first manned flight of Project Mercury, which NASA created to put astronauts in orbit. Shepard launched just three weeks after the Soviet Union launched the first person into orbit. Shepard's flight was suborbital and lasted only 15 minutes, but he did experience weightlessness. During the flight, he tested the capsule's attitude control system and retrorockets, which would be used to help future orbital missions land. He reached an altitude of 116 miles before he parachuted back down to Earth. The Freedom 7 space capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas. The capsule tilted over onto its side after the landing, but it slowly turned itself upright after about a minute of bobbing in the water. Recovery teams arrived by helicopter and quickly helped him out of the water, and the mission was deemed a huge success.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space. On May 5th, 1961, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard became the
00:07first American to go to space. He launched from Cape Canaveral on a Mercury
00:11Redstone rocket in a space capsule named Freedom 7. This was the first manned
00:15flight of Project Mercury, which NASA created to put astronauts in orbit.
00:18Shepard launched just three weeks after the Soviet Union launched the first
00:22person into space. Shepard's flight was suborbital and lasted only 15 minutes, but
00:27he did experience weightlessness. During the flight, he tested the capsule's
00:31attitude control system and retro rockets, which would be used to help future
00:35orbital missions land. He reached an altitude of 116 miles before he
00:39parachuted back down to Earth. The Freedom 7 space capsule splashed down in the
00:43Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas. The capsule tilted over onto its side after
00:47the landing, but it slowly turned itself upright after about a minute of bobbing
00:50in the water. Recovery teams arrived by helicopter and quickly helped him out of
00:55the water, and the mission was deemed a huge success. And that's what
00:59happened on this day in space.