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On the morning of May 5, 1961, 37-year-old Alan Shepard woke up, ate breakfast (which consisted of filet mignon wrapped in bacon, scrambled eggs, and orange juice), strapped into a Freedom 7 rocket, and blasted off into space, becoming the first American astronaut to do so.
Shepard’s legendary flight – and the first flight of Project Mercury – did two things. It showed that after being defeated in space by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, America was still in the race. And it proved that the United States could send a man into space and back, helping to restore the country’s confidence during the Cold War. Shepard’s flight lasted only 15 minutes, but it provided enough information to form the basis of the American spaceflight program for years to come.
Shepard’s flight lasted only 15 minutes, but it provided enough information to form the basis of the American spaceflight program for years to come.
Sixty-five years later, the Artemis program is trying to build on that foundation by proving that humans can’t survive in space, either. building a stable foundation and have fun there. The Artemis II mission, which ended just last month, was a high-water mark in human spaceflight, and its crew. farther than anyone in history of the space program.
There have been ups and downs, of course. We have lived enough delay in workprohibited causes, and reduce costs knowing that everything we do in space is still bound by the political and economic realities that are happening here on the ground. The commercial industry is not rising to the rescue; the most important are tourism, satellitesand perhaps orbital data centers. Americans are looking around at rising prices and wondering why so much money is spent on rocket launches. It is no longer enough to prove that we can go to space. The question now is: Why do we go backwards?
We know that crowdfunding is an amazing tool to encourage people to pursue STEM education. It drives students and future engineers and astronauts to try to solve the greatest mysteries in the universe. In the end, it’s about wanting to explore. These pictures of America’s first entry into the human space program are a good reminder of that instinct.
