A-OK Flight
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May 5, 2011 Alan Shepard, shown entering his spacecraft at left, became the first American in space when he flew a 15-minute suborbital hop aboard Freedom 7 on May 5, 1961. The flight came three weeks after the Soviet Union had launched the first man into space. Shepard's success emboldened President John F. Kennedy to launch the Moon Race just three weeks later. [NASA (2)]
