Alan Shepard Lights the Candle to Space
About this episode
The episode discusses Alan Shepard's historic flight as the first American in space on May 5, 1961.
# The Cosmic Wake-Up Call: Alan Shepard Becomes America's First Man in Space On May 5, 1961, exactly 65 years ago today, Navy Commander Alan B. Shepard Jr. squeezed himself into a Mercury capsule he affectionately nicknamed "Freedom 7" and became the first American to journey into space. This fifteen-minute suborbital flight may have been brief, but it represented a monumental leap for American science, technology, and national pride during one of the most intense periods of the Cold War. The morning didn't start smoothly. Shepard had been awake since 1:10 AM, endured a medical examination, ate a breakfast of steak and eggs (which would become a pre-flight tradition), and was suited up by 3:55 AM. Then came the delays. Weather issues, technical problems with computers, and a troublesome power inverter pushed the launch back hour after hour. Shepard spent over four hours lying on his back in the tiny capsule, waiting. During this time, he uttered what would become one of NASA's most famous quotes—though a sanitized version. Frustrated by the delays, he's reported to have said, "Why don't you fix your little problem and light this candle?" Finally, at 9:34 AM Eastern Time, the…
Topics covered
- space exploration
- Alan Shepard
- Cold War
- NASA history
- suborbital flight
Keywords
- Alan Shepard
- Mercury capsule
- Freedom 7
- NASA
- space flight
- Cold War
- suborbital flight
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NASA
Products: Mercury capsule, Freedom 7
Places: Eastern Time
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