– CBS Radio Special Report: Alan Shepard Press Conference – May 8, 1961 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
On May 5, 1961 America sent its first Astronaut into space. Alan Shepard aboard Freedom 7, the first of the series of six Project Mercury flights into space, eventually leading to America’s first landing of an astronaut on the Moon.
But 1969 was a long way off. On May 5th in 1961 Alan Shepard did what many Americans only dreamed about, and the 15 minute suborbital flight signified the gap in the space race between the U.S. and Soviet Union was closing. Earlier in April, Russia launched their first manned spaceflight and Yuri Gagarin became the first Cosmonaut in outer space.
After hundreds of hours of training in simulators and three simulations inside the capsule itself, Shepard and his backups, Grissom and Glenn, prepared for the actual flight. Inclement weather scrubbed the first launch attempt on May 2, 1961, and NASA decided it was time to announce that Shepard would indeed be making the first flight. On May 5, the weather proved more cooperative, and Shepard climbed aboard Freedom 7 atop the Redstone rocket poised on Launch Pad 5 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, now the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida. Half a million people had gathered on nearby beaches to watch the launch in person. An estimated 45 million Americans anxiously watched the liftoff on live television, including President Kennedy at the White House. After more than two hours of delays due to technical issues, the rocket engine ignited at 9:31 a.m. Eastern time, propelling Shepard skyward and into the history books.
On May 8, 1961, Shepard arrived at the White House where, in a ceremony in the Rose Garden, President Kennedy presented him with NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal. From there, Shepard, with his wife Louise riding in Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson’s limousine, took part in a motorcade that took them to the Capitol for a reception with lawmakers.
Here is that complete news conference from May 8, 1961.
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