Who became the first American to travel into space in 1961? Explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx93e7cp5ZM
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first American to journey into space. Piloting the Mercury-Redstone 3 capsule, famously dubbed Freedom 7, Shepard’s brief suborbital flight, lasting slightly over 15 minutes, represented a crucial juncture in the Space Race rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Reaching an altitude of 116 miles and a peak speed of 5,134 mph, his spacecraft safely splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. Shepard’s mission underscored the viability of human space travel for NASA and provided a morale boost for the United States, occurring within weeks of Yuri Gagarin’s historic spaceflight as the first human in space.