08 May 2011
Former NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter, right, and United States Postal Service Vice President of Finance Steve Masse unveil two new stamps, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Freedom 7, America’s first manned spaceflight.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
On 5 May 1961, US astronaut Alan Shepard piloted the Freedom 7 spacecraft, America’s first manned space mission, and became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space. On 12 April 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to fly into space, and orbit Earth, aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft. Freedom 7 was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, aboard a Redstone rocket. It reached an altitude of 187 km, then descended, and parachuted safely into the Atlantic Ocean, 15 minutes after launch. Shepard and his space vehicle were recovered by a helicopter, and flown to a nearby carrier ship.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Freedom 7 mission, on 4 May 2011, America released two new stamps. One stamp depicts a young grinning Alan Shepard, the Freedom 7 spacecraft, and the Redstone rocket. The other stamp shows the MESSENGER spacecraft in orbit around Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet. MESSENGER was successfully placed into Mercury orbit, on 18 March 2011, beginning a new era of Solar System exploration.
References
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist