With his signature, President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the National Aeronautics Space Administration on July 29, 1958. Project Mercury, America's first space operations endeavor (other than the X-15 project) was announced on October 7, 1958. With 18 months of extensive preparations and several launch attempts, America's first astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. was propelled 116 miles into space from Cape Canaveral's Complex 5 on May 5, 1961. Rear Admiral Shepard posted his historic flight aboard the small one-man capsule, Freedom 7, power by a primitive Redstone rocket, pictured here. The 83 foot tall, 33 ton Redstone carried Shepard for a brief sub-orbital flight, 300 miles down-range, and splashing down in the Atlantic.
     Alan Shepard continued in the astronaut corps, and during his second space flight he commanded the Apollo 14 for America's third lunar mission. The highly decorated Shepard logged more than 200 hours in space and over nine hours on the moon.