Who was the First American Astronaut?
The first American astronaut, and the second person in space in general, was Alan Shepard, Jr. Like most of the early astronauts, Shepard was recruited into NASA from the Navy, where he was a test-flight pilot for high-altitude experimental craft. In the 1950s, he flew in the F3H Demon, F8U Crusader, F4D Skyray, and F11F Tiger, F5D Skylancer, logging over 8,000 hours of flying time with 3,700 hours in jet aircraft. Before he left to join NASA to become an astronaut, he was an instructor at Test Pilot School. When the Space Race was in full swing in the late 1950s, NASA selected 110 military pilots to undergo a rigorous test regime to select out an elite group of seven for the USA’s first manned spaceflights. This was part of the Mercury Project, and the elite group became known as the Mercury Seven, flying the historic series of Mercury missions. Trying to beat the Russians into space since Sputnik, the USA scheduled to have the pioneering astronaut Shepard go into space in October 196
