Who is Alan Shepard? continued
In 1959, he was chosen as one of NASA’s original Mercury Seven astronauts, and in May 1961, he flew the first crewed Project Mercury mission, Mercury-Redstone 3, in a spacecraft he dubbed Freedom 7.
His craft made it into space, but it was unable to reach orbit.
He was the second person to journey into space, and the first American, as well as the first to physically control the direction of his vehicle.
Shepard was supposed to pilot the Mercury-Atlas 10 during the last stages of Project Mercury, which was supposed to be a three-day journey.
In remembrance of his first spacecraft, he christened Mercury Spacecraft 15B Freedom 7 II, but the mission was canceled.
