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yesterday

65 Years Since Freedom 7 Put the First American in Space

The suborbital hop validated U.S. crewed flight, fueling a push for a Moon program.

President Kennedy congratulates Alan Shepard after his Freedom 7 flight. The success of the mission would inspire Kennedy to ask Congress for an increased NASA budget only three weeks later, with the specfic goal of landing on the Moon. Credit: NASA
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Overview

  • Alan Shepard flew on May 5, 1961 as the first American in space, riding the Mercury Freedom 7 capsule on a brief suborbital mission launched by a Redstone rocket from Cape Canaveral.
  • The Redstone engine cut off about 2 minutes 22 seconds after liftoff, Shepard experienced roughly 6.3 g, and the flight lasted about 15 minutes.
  • Freedom 7 reached about 116.5 miles in altitude and hit a top speed near 5,180 mph before reentry.
  • The capsule splashed down about 302 miles from the Cape, and a Navy helicopter carried Shepard and Freedom 7 to the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain.
  • The mission followed Yuri Gagarin’s first human flight on April 12, 1961, fed momentum for President John F. Kennedy’s May 25 call for a lunar program, and later inspired namesakes such as Blue Origin’s New Shepard.