There’s a school of thought wherein people believe that only those who come first are remembered. Be it in academics, be it in sports, or be it in life in general. They say that the others are forgotten, including even those who manage to come second.
There might be some truth to it. We all know that Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human being in space. But unless you are very good with your trivia, or have read the introduction to this article before diving into it, chances are that you might not have known about Alan B. Shepard. This, despite the fact that Shepard was the first American and second human being in space. What’s more, Gagarin and Shepard actually achieved their feats within a month of each other.
Could have gone either way
It could have easily been the other way around, with Shepard being the first human in space and Gagarin the second. For even in 1961, it wasn’t obvious that the Soviets were ahead in the race.
As the Soviets scored first with the success of Sputnik in 1957, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration – NASA as we all know it now – was set up in 1958 in an effort to move ahead of the Soviet Union in the space race. NASA’s Project Mercury had plans to launch its first astronaut to space as early as 1960.
Two launch vehicles
This belief was driven by the fact that Mercury had two launch vehicles. While the smaller of the two, the Army Redstone missile that could send astronauts on suborbital journeys, was reliable, the larger Air Force Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could launch them into orbit was blowing up often.
The technical challenges involved caused inevitable delays. So much so that the first uncrewed Mercury-Redstone flight itself took off only in December 1960. On January 31, 1961, Mercury-Redstone 2 carrying the chimpanzee Ham was launched and was largely successful. While Mercury-Redstone 3, the spacecraft that went on to become Freedom 7, could have been launched in March 1961, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center led by German-American rocket engineer Wernher von Braun opted for having another test.
This didn’t go well with American aerospace engineer Robert Gilruth, whose team Space Task Group (later became the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas) was in charge of Mercury. Gilruth disliked von Braun as he was a German and had changed sides, and saw von Braun’s request for an additional test as a case of German overengineering.
Risk vs reward
NASA, however, went with von Braun as the safety of an astronaut was paramount, even if it meant losing in the race once again. That was exactly what happened as Gagarin made a single orbit of Earth on April 12, 1961, less than three weeks after the additional test for booster development – MR-BD – flew successfully on March 24, 1961.
Ahead of MR-3’s launch, NASA announced that three astronauts from the Mercury Seven – John Glenn, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, and Shepard – were in the reckoning. Even though Shepard was Gilruth’s choice right from the start, this wasn’t revealed until after the first launch attempt was cancelled due to bad weather on May 2, 1961.
Shepard being helped into his space suit before becoming the second human in space.
Shepard entered Freedom 7 – the name he had given to the capsule – about two hours before the scheduled launch at 7:20 a.m. on May 5. Technical delays meant that Shepard had to urinate in his spacesuit (no provision for it had been made!) and lost his cool before the launch eventually took place at 9:34 a.m.
Tremendous force
The acceleration pushed Shepard into his couch with a force more than six times the Earth’s gravity. While the flight lasted for just over 15 minutes, Shepard did experience five minutes of weightlessness, tested the attitude control systems and even turned the periscope to look back at his country (overhead windows were built into vehicles after this). The brutal reentry saw him experience over 11 times the Earth’s gravity before the parachute was normally deployed and his capsule hit the ocean. He was picked up by a helicopter and taken to the USS Lake Champlain and was instantly a national hero.
Alan Shepard being picked up by a helicopter within seconds after landing his space capsule in the water. | Photo Credit: UPI
Alan Shepard holds his space helmet as he emerges from the capsule on board the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain on May 5, 1961. | Photo Credit: AP
The mission that took the first American to space not only improved NASA’s technical know-how, but also how to handle their public relations better. They realised that announcing that only three astronauts were in the running was a disaster, as it immediately relegated the other four – Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Walter Schirra, and Donald “Deke” Slayton – in the eyes of the public.
In fact, Shepard had named his capsule “Freedom” at first, and then added the “7” for the seven astronauts. While he did it as a mark of solidarity, the damage had already been done. These mistakes regarding crew selection were never repeated again.
As for Shepard, he was grounded for a number of years because of an inner-ear condition that was resolved only in 1969 following an operation. The first American and second human to fly in space then went on to become the fifth and only Mercury astronaut to walk on the moon when he commanded the Apollo 14 mission in 1971.
