From Alan Shepard to Artemis, celebrating 65 years of Americans in space

Astronaut Alan Shepard, May 5th, 1961. | Photo by Photo12 / UIG / Getty Images 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.