From Alan Shepard to Artemis, celebrating 65 years of Americans in space

Shepard’s historic spaceflight helped set the stage for future launches — culminating in the Artemis II mission this year.

On the morning of May 5th, 1961, 37-year-old Alan Shepard woke up, ate a breakfast (consisting of a filet mignon wrapped in bacon, scrambled eggs, and orange juice), strapped into the Freedom 7 rocket, and blasted off into space, becoming the first American astronaut to do so.

Shepard’s historic flight — and the first crewed flight of Project Mercury — did two things. It demonstrated that after getting beat to space by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, America was still in the race. And it proved the United States could safely send a human into space and back, helping to restore national confidence during the Cold War. Shepard’s flight only lasted 15 minutes, but it provided enough critical information to serve as a foundation for America’s human spaceflight program in the years to come.

Sixty-five years later, the Artemis program is attempting to build off that foundation by proving that humans can not only survive in space, but also build permanent infrastructure and thrive there. The Artemis II mission, which just concluded last month, was a particular high-water mark for human spaceflight, with the crew traveling farther than anyone in the history of the space program.

There have been ups and downs, of course. We’ve lived through enough mission delays, aborted launches, and funding cuts to know that anything we do in space is still constrained by the political and financial realities of what takes place here on the ground. Commercial space companies are not riding to the rescue; their priorities are tourism, satellites, and perhaps orbital data centers. Americans are looking around at rising prices and wondering why so much money is being spent on rocket launches. It’s no longer enough to prove we can go to space. The question now is: Why do we keep going back?

We know that human spaceflight is a remarkable tool for inspiring people to pursue a STEM education. It drives students and engineers and future astronauts to try to solve some of the biggest mysteries in the universe. Ultimately, it’s a desire to explore. These photos from America’s first foray into the human spaceflight program are a good reminder of that instinct.

The original seven Project Mercury astronauts: front row, left to right, are Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn,

and Scott Carpenter. Back row, left to right, are Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and Gordon Cooper.

Photo: NASA / Roger Ressmeyer / Corbis / VCG via Getty Images

 

The scene is set for America’s first astronaut, Alan Shepard, for his trip into space. In this diagrammed general

view of the launching site, made during tests and released by NASA, the Mercury-Redstone rocket is on its pad ready to be fired.

Photo: Bettman / Getty contributor

 

Behind the Flight Control area in Mercury Mission Control was a glass-enclosed viewing section that consisted

of two levels, with rows of chairs and standing room at the back.

Photo: NASA

 

On May 5th, 1961, only 23 days after Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union became the first person in space, NASA

astronaut Alan Shepard launched at 9:34AM ET aboard his Freedom 7 capsule powered by a Redstone booster.

His historic flight lasted 15 minutes, 28 seconds.

Photo: NASA

 

NASA astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. participates in a test of his pressure suit in Hangar S at Cape Canaveral

Air Force Station on May 5, 1961.

Photo: NASA

 

Liftoff of the Freedom 7 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Photo: NASA

 

President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy follow on television the takeoff and space flight of astronaut Alan Shepard.

Photo: White House Photo via AP

 

Shepard’s pickup at sea after his capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean.

Photo: Marka / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

 

A US Marine helicopter recovery team hoists astronaut Alan Shepard from his Mercury spacecraft after a

successful flight and splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.

Photo: Heritage Space / Heritage Images via Getty Images

 

A helicopter gently lowers a Mercury space capsule to the padded area on the deck of the USS Lake Champlain

after retrieving it at sea. Aboard the helicopter is Alan Shepard, who left the capsule while it was still in the water.

Photo: Bettmann / Getty Contributor

 

Front page of the Daily News dated May 6th, 1961.

Image: NY Daily News via Getty Images

 

Shepard eventually went back to space as commander of NASA’s Apollo 14 lunar landing mission. Here he is

holding the US flag on the Moon, February 1971, in a photo taken by lunar module pilot Edgar D. Mitchell,

whose shadow is visible in front.

Photo: Space Frontiers / Getty Images

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Wednesday 6 May 2026 at 7:31 am AEST (my time).

News posts: 2023 5,800+ | 2024 5,700+ | 2025 5,700+ | 2026 (to end of April) 1,700

RIP Matrix