65th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST AMERICAN IN SPACE, May 5, 2026

On May 5, 1961, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space.

He did not go into orbit. He made a suborbital flight that lasted about 15 minutes, but reached an altitude the United States considered to be the dividing line between air and space (50 miles or 80 kilometers). Jeff Bezos named his suborbital rocket New Shepard in Shepard’s honor, but uses the internationally accepted altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers), the Kármán Line, as that dividing line. The U.S. government still uses 50 miles.

Shepard’s flight came three weeks after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, making one orbit of the planet.

The first American to reach orbit was John Glenn on February 20, 1962.  Bezos named his orbital rocket New Glenn in Glenn’s honor.

As of April 25, we haven’t heard of any events to commemorate Shepard’s achievement, but if we do we will add the information here.