Above, astronaut Alan B. Shepard.Next month will mark the 50th anniversary of Alan B. Shepard's sub-orbital flight in the Freedom 7 Project Mercury capsule. Shepard became the first American in space (although some may dispute that due to the X-15 rocket plane program).
It was on May 5, 1961 that the second man in space (the Russians launced Yuri Gagarin into space on April 12, 1961) was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida atop a Redstone rocket (photo below).
The flight itself lasted less than a half hour, but it got the United States into the manned space race.
Shepard returned to space in 1971 as commander of the Apollo 14 moon flight and was the first the hit a golf ball on the moon.
According to Wikipedia, inside Freedom 7 Shepard allegedly made a quote made famous in Tom Wolfe's book, The Right Stuff:
Shortly before the launch, Shepard said to himself: "Don't fuck up, Shepard..." This quote was reported as "Dear Lord, please don't let me fuck up" in The Right Stuff, though Shepard confirmed this as a misquote. Regardless, the latter quote has since become known among aviators as "Shepard's Prayer."
Shepard died of leukemia near his home in Pebble Beach, California on July 21, 1998 and was cremated. His ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean off Pebble Beach.
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