Alan Shepherd
US Navy pilot and astronaut Alan Shepard (1923-1998) became the first US man in space when he flew a suborbital rocket flight in his Freedom 7 spacecraft on May 5, 1961. He flew approximately 303 miles in the 15-minute flight, reaching a maximum altitude of 116.5 miles.
John Glenn made America's first orbital flight on February 20,1962. The Russians beat us to it, but John Glenn was the first astronaut.
US astronaut Alan Shepard (1923-1998) was 47 when he walked on the Moon as part of the Apollo 14 mission (February 1971). He was the "first astronaut in space" for the US during his suborbital flight in February 1962, as well as the first man to play golf on the Moon.
Alan B Shepard was the first American to fly in space onboard Freedom 7 on May 5th 1961.
The second American in space was Virgil Grissom, on the 21st of July, 1961. This was the second American 'suborbital' flight, where true space was entered, but the pilot did not make a full orbit of the planet.
John Glenn.
US Navy pilot and astronaut Alan Shepard (1923-1998) became the first US man in space when he flew a suborbital rocket flight in his Freedom 7 spacecraft on May 5, 1961. He flew approximately 303 miles in the 15-minute flight, reaching a maximum altitude of 116.5 miles.
John Glenn made America's first orbital flight on February 20,1962. The Russians beat us to it, but John Glenn was the first astronaut.
There were several unmanned rocket and missile tests that were "suborbital" as early as 1957, pushing payloads into high altitudes. Later tests lofted monkeys and chimps briefly into space. The first MANNED suborbital flight for the US was the Freedom 7 capsule piloted by US Navy CDR Alan B. Shepard (1923-1998) on May 5, 1961. The Mercury-Redstone 3 rocket did not provide the necessary thrust for Shepard to achieve a complete orbit of the Earth, as the USSR's Yuri Gagarin had done three weeks earlier. CDR Shepard (later RADM) had one other space "first". Commanding the Apollo 14 lunar mission ten years later in 1971, he was the first person to ever hit a golf ball on the moon.
The first US satellite was Explorer I, launched on January 31, 1958.The first US manned flights were part of Project Mercury, which included a flight by a chimpanzee named Ham. In 1961, there were suborbital (up and back down) flights by Alan Shepard on May 5, 1961, and by Gus Grissom on July 21, 1961. Flight delays meant that these came after Yuri Gagarin's orbital flight for the USSR (April 12, 1961).The first orbital flight for the US was by John Glenn on February 20, 1962. He made three orbits during a five-hour flight.
US astronaut Alan Shepard (1923-1998) was 47 when he walked on the Moon as part of the Apollo 14 mission (February 1971). He was the "first astronaut in space" for the US during his suborbital flight in February 1962, as well as the first man to play golf on the Moon.
Astronauts do not become an astronaut until they complete their training and perform a successful spaceflight higher than 100 kilometers. Using that criteria, the first astronaut was Alan B. Shepard, who flew Freedom 7 on a suborbital flight on May 5, 1961.
Alan B Shepard was the first American to fly in space onboard Freedom 7 on May 5th 1961.
The second American in space was Virgil Grissom, on the 21st of July, 1961. This was the second American 'suborbital' flight, where true space was entered, but the pilot did not make a full orbit of the planet.
The first one was invented by the US military for flight training. The first commercially available version was made by Microsoft (Microsoft Flight Simulator 1995).
Astronomy
That was in 1903