Mercury Redstone 3 Spacecraft: S/C-7 Launch Vehicle: Redstone MR-7 Launched: 5 May 1961 Prime Crew	⇑ Mission List ⇑ Designation: Mercury R S-1 Description: 1st Mercury Redstone manned suborbital
	A B Shepard Backup Crew J H Glenn

Duration: 0.0104 days Apogee: 187 km (116 mi) Alan Shepard first American in space, less than a month after Gagarin and only on a 15 minute suborbital flight. Only manned flight with original Mercury capsule design (tiny round porthole and periscope a la Vostok). If NASA had not listened to Von Braun, Shepard would have flown on the MR-BD flight of 24 March, beating Gagarin by three weeks and becoming the first man in space (though not in orbit). Shepard's capsule reached an altitude of 115.696 miles, range of 302 miles,and speed of 5,100 miles per hour. He demonstrated control of a vehicle during weightlessness and high G stresses. Recovery operations were perfect; there was no damage to the spacecraft; and Astronaut Shepard was in excellent condition. Shepard was the first man to return from space in his spacecraft. References: Grimwood, James M. 1963. Project Mercury: A Chronology. NASA SP-4001. Encyclopedia Astronautica. Wikipedia.