May 5th 1961 – Project Mercury: Aboard the American spacecraft Freedom 7, astronaut Alan Shepard (pictured) made a sub-orbital flight, becoming the second person to travel into outer space after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) (Rear Admiral, USN, 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. He was also one of many famous descendants of Mayflower passenger