Today in Star Trek history: astronaut Alan Shepard becomes first American in space (1961)

Alan Shepherd became the First American in space on May 5, 1961

It was today, May 5th, back 1961, that astronaut Alan Shepard made history as the second person, and the first American, to go to outer space. Shepard, a World War II veteran and test pilot, commanded the Mercury-Redstone 3 flight, a mission that lasted a little over 15 minutes, and was the first craft in space to be manually controlled. 10 years later Shepard returned to space, becoming the fifth person to walk on the moon and the only one to hit golf balls there.

What does this have to do with Star Trek you may ask? Besides being a pioneer in space, Shepard actually appeared in 96 episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, having been featured in the opening credits of the show. It was a long road getting from there to here.

Please join me in wishing a happy 60th anniversary to NASA and remembering Alan Shepard and his contributions to traveling to the final frontier.