GoKawiilNASA’s Artemis II mission to fly around the far side of the Moon
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.
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 by 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 by 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 by 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 by NASA
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