Alan Shepard 1st American into space....

Item # 561048

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May 05, 1961

FITCHBURG SENTINEL, Massachusetts, May 5, 1961

* Alan Shepard - Project Mercury
* 1st American astronaut into space

This 18 page newspaper has a two line banner headline on the front page: "First U. S. Spaceman Rockets 302 Miles n 5100 m.p.h. Journey In 15-Minute Flight" with subhead: "Project Mercury" and a nice illustration of Shepard. Related photos on page 4.

Other news of the day. Nice condition.

wikipedia notes: Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) (Rear Admiral, United States Navy, Ret.) was the second person and the first American in space. He later commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was the fifth person to walk on the moon.

In 1959, Shepard was one of 110 military test pilots invited by the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration to volunteer for the first manned space flight program. Following a gruelling series of tests, Shepard became one of the original group of seven Mercury astronauts.

In January, 1961 Shepard was chosen for the first American manned mission into space. Although the flight was originally scheduled to take place in October 1960, delays caused by unplanned preparatory work meant that this was postponed several times, initially to March 6, 1961 and finally to May 5, 1961.[2] On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first person to orbit the Earth.

Category: The 20th Century