Those were the words Alan Shepard used 60 years ago Wednesday to note his cockpit timepiece had begun running. This meant his Redstone rocket booster had left the ground sending him and his one-man ...

As NASA fought to catch up to the Soviet Union in the space race, they selected a Navy veteran as the first astronaut. But what happened once Alan Shepard stepped into the space capsule?

In May 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space, a short suborbital mission that proved humans could survive launch, weightlessness, and reentry. Behind the calm headlines was Project ...