[Launch Alert] Fifty Years Ago Today

[Launch Alert]

I just wanted to mark an important anniversary in the U.S. space program.
Fifty years ago today, Alan Shepard became the first American to fly in
space.

A Mercury capsule containing the 37 year old Navy Commander lifted off from
Cape Canaveral atop a Redstone rocket and flew a ballistic arc before
landing in the Atlantic. The flight lasted about 15 minutes.

Although I do not remember watching the flight on television, I had the
honor of meeting and talking with Shepard at the Johnson Space Center in
Houston during the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission.

Brian Webb