Today In Space Travel History

 

May 5, 1961....Freedom 7 launches atop a Redstone rocket marking the first American human spaceflight. The successful 15-minute, suborbital flight brought American pride after a slow start with several humiliating public rocket failures in the newly formed space agency-NASA. The Mercury capsule is piloted by Alan Shepard who, 10 years later, would be walking on the Moon on Apollo 14.

 

From the excellent program from HBO - From The Earth To The Moon