50 Years of the US in Space

A little less than a month after Yuri Gagarin launched the era of human space flight, his US counterpart Alan Shepard followed him in to the great beyond becoming the first US citizen in space. His vessel, the Freedom 7, is the subject of today's APOD commemorating the 50th anniversary of this momentous event. When Shepard was asked after his successful mission about what was going through his head while sitting in his ship he replied, "The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder."

While not nearly as impressive as Yuri's complete trip around the Earth, with Alan's flight only lasting 15 minutes, travelling up 188 km and travelling downrange only 486 km, it was the start of something huge. Unlike Yuri's flight Alan's was televised live across the world and observed in person by almost half a million people. With the US having sent a man into space it kicked off the Space Race between the USSR and USA, the eventual goal of which was the Moon. It was this event that catalyzed US President Kennedy to make his famous call for the US to send astronauts to the Moon and return them safely before the end of the decade. The rest is history.

For more insight on today's events take a look at this article which contains an excerpt from the book Moon Shot, co-written by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. In it you will get a feel for how Shepard, his wife and those who observed the launch felt on that day. Fun fact, Alan Shepard actually ended up going to the Moon on Apollo 14. This flight earned him another distinction of being the only man to play golf on the Moon.