May+5+1961

On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard went into space on a 15-minute flight that reached an altitued of 115 miles. Unlike Gagarin's flight though he did not orbit the Earth. But nevertheless, it was enough to get President Kennedy to issue a bold challenge to the nation. He said that the U.S. should commit itself to getting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Unfortunantly, he would not be around to see his dream become a reality.

Information provided by: textbook P. 740

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