May 5, 1961: The 1st American In Space

May 5, 1961: Captain Alan Shepard, U.S. Navy, becomes the 1st American in space. It was a suborbital flight, and he had been beaten to it by a Soviet, but he was the 1st American to make it.

Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. was born on November 18, 1923 in Derry, New Hampshire. Yes, he was from New Hampshire and had "Bartlett" in his name. He was a descendant of a Mayflower passenger and a Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he served during World War II and the Korean War, but saw no combat in either. He was selected as one of the original American astronauts in Project Mercury, the "Mercury 7."

On May 5, 1961, 23 days after Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union became the 1st human in space, Shepard became the first American in space. His mission was designated Mercury-Redstone 3, for Project Mercury and the Redstone rocket; and the capsule was named Freedom 7, as all the Mercury capsules had the number 7 designation in honor of the astronauts.

Shepard was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2:34 PM, reached a height of 116 miles -- 54 miles, or the "Kármán Line," being the definition of "being in space" -- and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, 15 minutes, 28 seconds after launch.

He was followed into space by Gus Grissom later in the year. It would take until early 1962 for an American to make an orbital flight: John Glenn.

In 1963, Shepard was grounded by an inner ear issue. In 1969, he had corrective surgery, and was cleared for spaceflight again. In 1971 he commanded Apollo 14, and got to walk on the Moon. At the age of 47, he remains the oldest Moonwalker. He even hit a golf ball there. However, since golf is not a sport, the title of "First Athlete On the Moon" is still up for grabs. Unless one of the six pairs of Moonwalkers had a footrace.

In 1979, Tom Wolfe published a book about the Mercury program, The Right Stuff. In 1983, a film version was released, written and directed by Philip Kaufman. Shepard was played by Scott Glenn. Shepard harshly criticized both the movie and the book: "Neither Tom Wolfe nor Kaufman had talked to any of the original seven guys, at any time... The Right Stuff is fiction." Sam Shepard, who played Chuck Yeager, the 1st man to break the speed of sound, was not related to Alan Shepard. 

Shepard retired from the Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral (two stars, equivalent to Major General), and died on July 21, 1998, at the age of 74.

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May 5, 1961 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, home of the Pacific Coast League team that had borne the Los Angeles Angels name from 1925 to 1957, a farm team of the Chicago Cubs, hence the name of the ballpark, which was built as a copy of the one in Chicago, but had the Wrigley name on it first.

This was the Yankees' 1st regular-season game west of Kansas City. Ralph Terry started, but the Yankees needed to score 2 runs in the top of the 9th, on a leadoff walk by Roger Maris and a home run by Clete Boyer. This made a winning pitcher out of Danny McDevitt. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-4 with a walk. Maris went 0-for-1 with 3 walks. Yogi Berra appeared as a pinch-hitter, but did not reach base.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-0 at Forbes field in Pittsburgh. Johnny Podres pitched 6 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, and Turk Farrell completed the 7-hit shutout. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Al Kaline went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Milwaukee Braves, 6-5 at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Reds scored 4 runs to take the lead in the top of the 9th, but the Braves tied it in the bottom of the 9th. Leo Cárdenas drove Gene Freese in with the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the 12th. Frank Robinson went 2-for-6. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-2 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Rookie Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.

* The Chicago Cubs and their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, were rained out at the 1st Busch Stadium, formerly the last Sportsman's Park, in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 6. The Cards won the opener, 6-2. The nightcap was 3-3 after 10 innings, when it was rained out again. Over the 2 games, Ernie Banks went 1-for-6 with 3 walks, and Stan Musial went 1-for-3 with 2 walks, only appearing as a pinch-hitter in the 2nd game.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Athletics were rained out at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 27. The O's swept, 5-3 and 7-2. Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 2-for-9 with a walk.