Posts: 46184 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-05-2009 12:00 AM
Remembering Mercury-Redstone 3 (May 5, 1961)
Mercury-Redstone 3, piloted by Alan Shepard aboard the Mercury spacecraft "Freedom 7," was the first United States human spaceflight on May 5, 1961.
It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury, a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary objective of demonstrating launch and atmospheric re-entry.
Joe Holloway Member
Posts: 74 From: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA Registered: Jan 2007
posted 05-05-2007 03:30 AM
Forty-six years ago this very morning (May 5, 2007), Lt. Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and his "Freedom 7" Mercury spacecraft were lofted into the heavens by his trusty Redstone booster.
I would have given anything to be watching from what is today Jetty Park, or even closer. Due to its proximity to Pad 5, what a view that must have been for those lucky spectators!
Although John Glenn's Earth orbital mission of the following February seemingly upstaged both the Mercury-Redstone 3 and Mercury-Redstone 4 suborbital hops, I nevertheless grew up convinced that Shepard was the greatest hero of all. What must've been running through Shepard's mind as his "candle was lit?"
Perhaps I was swayed by my Dad's influence, for every time we took the old Cape drive-through tour during the 1970s, Dad stopped the car at L/C-5 and reemphasized just how hallowed that slab of concrete truly was.
He liked to say that it was "the most historic real estate this side of Jamestown or Plymouth Rock." I have no doubt that he was absolutely right.
hlbjr Member
Posts: 514 From: Delray Beach Florida USA Registered: Mar 2006
posted 05-05-2007 06:31 PM
Well put Joe. Your dad was right.
I was fortunate enough to be able to drive my car out to the Air Force Space & Missile Museum in 1996 and I drove out onto LC-5 and just spent time, all alone, for almost an hour taking in that "historic slab of concrete." I could almost hear the vibrations of the history which occurred there.
It was a weekday and there wasn't another soul around except for someone in the museum about a quarter mile away. I had LC-5 all to myself!
Ben Member
Posts: 1915 From: United States Registered: May 2000
posted 05-05-2007 11:28 PM
I, too, have had time to spend at LC-5/6. It was a magical feeling for that hour or so I was there.
FFrench Member
Posts: 3203 From: San Diego Registered: Feb 2002
posted 05-06-2007 09:02 AM
It is indeed a great place to sit and contemplate for a while.
Here's a photo taken of me on the very spot the first American launched into space, taken last December (2006). Wouldn't have been a good place to sit on launch day... but a fascinating place to visit now.
Joe Holloway Member
Posts: 74 From: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA Registered: Jan 2007
posted 05-05-2008 09:10 AM
Two score and seven years ago today (May 5, 2008), a great American hero, Alan Shepard, wriggled into Freedom 7 and rode his Redstone into history.
Here's hoping that anyone lucky-enough to be taking the Cape "Then And Now" tour today has a few minutes to stop at Pad 5 and contemplate the events of this day in 1961.
Mr Meek Member
Posts: 353 From: Chattanooga, TN Registered: Dec 2007
posted 05-05-2008 11:14 AM
It's also the 47th anniversary of Shepard's Prayer. A deeply spiritual occasion, to be sure.
Gilbert Member
Posts: 1402 From: Carrollton, GA USA Registered: Jan 2003
posted 05-05-2008 04:12 PM
Seems like only yesterday. It's hard to believe it's been almost half a century.
Delta7 Member
Posts: 1651 From: Bluffton IN USA Registered: Oct 2007
posted 05-05-2008 04:47 PM
A lot of candles lit since then!
ejectr Member
Posts: 1830 From: Killingly, CT Registered: Mar 2002
posted 05-05-2008 05:08 PM
What an absolutely fun day that was! We were off and running!
dss65 Member
Posts: 1242 From: Sandpoint, ID, USA Registered: Mar 2003
posted 05-07-2008 09:07 PM
I was 9 years old at the time. I still remember the pride and excitement. And the feeling of a new and brave era dawning, where we could do anything...
Cliff Lentz Member
Posts: 655 From: Philadelphia, PA USA Registered: Mar 2002
posted 05-08-2008 07:28 AM
My memories of Freedom 7 are only enhanced now that I got to walk thorough the blockhouse at the launch site.
It still amazes me that the blockhouse is only about 300 feet away from the blast area. My favorite feature in the building were the computer tables that had built-in ashtrays for the controllers since everyone smoked back then.
R.Glueck Member
Posts: 115 From: Winterport, Maine, USA Registered: Jul 2004
posted 05-08-2008 07:57 PM
We sat on the gym floor in my elementary school, which had one large screen, B&W television, and watched the entire flight from lift-off to splash down.
Imagine what a bunch of 10 year olds would have thought if they knew he'd pee'd in the suit? We all wanted to be astronauts but we were toilet trained.
KSCartist Member
Posts: 2970 From: Titusville, FL Registered: Feb 2005
posted 05-05-2009 08:45 AM
Just wanted to wish all of you a happy "Alan Shepard in Space" day.
ejectr Member
Posts: 1830 From: Killingly, CT Registered: Mar 2002
posted 05-05-2009 08:46 AM
It is a great day! I remember it just like it was yesterday.
Joe Frasketi Member
Posts: 191 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2003
posted 05-05-2010 08:01 PM
T+49 years and counting.
I have a question that's been bugging me for years, and never really got an answer to it.
On May 5, 1961, I was working at the telemetry tracking station at Antigua AAFB some 1300 miles downrange. Although we were not involved in this suborbital flight with splashdown in the Bahamas some 150 miles downrange from Cape Canaveral, we wanted to see if we might be able to pick up a signal from the Mercury capsule.
Sure enough we did pick up a signal which only lasted a few seconds, approximately at the actual lift off time, with the tracking antenna pointed towards Cape Canaveral with it at the horizon.
I was later told that it was impossible to have picked up any signal from the Shepard's Mercury capsule. I am still wondering if this was possible. Anybody have any thoughts on this?
ejectr Member
Posts: 1830 From: Killingly, CT Registered: Mar 2002
posted 05-05-2010 08:20 PM
Define "signal."
Joe Frasketi Member
Posts: 191 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2003
posted 05-05-2010 10:14 PM
In this particular case, radio frequency waves emanating from the spacecraft.
Obviousman Member
Posts: 438 From: NSW, Australia Registered: May 2005
posted 05-06-2010 05:54 AM
What frequency signal? HF? VHF? I suspect that "skip" (or similar) may well have been responsible for your momentary acquisition.
ejectr Member
Posts: 1830 From: Killingly, CT Registered: Mar 2002
posted 05-06-2010 06:39 AM
I suspect you're right with the skip statement. It was most likely VHF amplitude modulation which is very susceptible to atmospheric skip, and the fact that the frequency was quiet and only being used by one entity, that would make it easier to obtain.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 46184 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-05-2011 04:26 AM
NASA Television video release
50 years ago: Alan Shepard, first American in space
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard made history, becoming the first U.S. astronaut in space with a 15-minute suborbital flight in his Freedom 7 capsule.
kking Member
Posts: 106 From: Topmost, KY Registered: Nov 2002
posted 05-05-2011 06:35 AM
I got my tapes out listening to Shorty Powers giving updates on the countdown. A historic day 50 years ago.
capoetc Member
Posts: 2248 From: McKinney TX (USA) Registered: Aug 2005
posted 05-05-2011 10:11 AM
A big Air Force salute goes out today to the first American in space and fifth man to walk on the moon ... Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
Vaya con dios, Jose!
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 2701 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 05-05-2011 11:15 AM
I called my mom at 9:34 AM this morning to thank her for making me watch that launch when I was a small child. It was the start of my love for everything that can fly and especially the space program.
drjeffbang Member
Posts: 110 From: Virginia Registered: Nov 2009
posted 05-05-2011 01:00 PM
My daughter and I celebrated by watching "For Miles and Miles" from "From the Earth to the Moon" last night.
Rick Boos Member
Posts: 851 From: Celina, Ohio Registered: Feb 2000
posted 05-05-2011 01:03 PM
It's hard to believe it's been 50 years, where has time gone? Great day, great man, and great event! Let's not forget the 50th anniversary for the other Mercury guys when their dates roll around!
DChudwin Member
Posts: 1113 From: Lincolnshire IL USA Registered: Aug 2000
posted 05-05-2011 02:00 PM
I remember the day well — the degree of excitement around the nation was phenomenal.
Ken Havekotte Member
Posts: 3227 From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard Registered: Mar 2001
posted 05-05-2011 02:54 PM
It was an awesome ceremony this morning in celebrating America's first astronaut spaceflight here at the Cape's old Launch Pad 5.
Throughout the ceremony, as we were seated on the actual pad concrete base, my eyes kept looking at the full-size Mercury Redstone rocket in front of me, the same type booster Shepard had flew on a half a century ago to this day!
It looked so small, or tiny, and primitive in comparison to later Saturn family launch vehicles, the current-day space shuttle, and to bigger, more powerful Atlas and Delta rocket machines.
In thinking back; where was I on this May day five decades ago? I was an Air Force brat, about 5 years of age, with my family stationed on an Air Force base in Puerto Rico, actually, a part of the 5,000-mile Atlantic Missile Range, when Shepard became America's first spaceman. At the time, I was probably playing with one of my toy rocket moon base sets.
Little did I know, 50 years later, would I be working on, observing, and celebrating the anniversary of a true American space hero on Florida's space coast, not really too far from that Air Force base in the West Indies I was on in 1961.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 46184 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
NASA commemorated today the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. manned space flight with a time-synchronized multimedia replay of the 15-minute suborbital mission at the same Cape Canaveral launch pad that was used by the late astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. on May 5, 1961.
ilbasso Member
Posts: 1527 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Feb 2006
posted 05-05-2011 04:07 PM
I was at the event today, too.
Like Ken, I was a young brat at the time of Shepard's flight. Watching it on TV was one of my earliest memories.
It was an overwhelming feeling to sit at the launchpad today and watch the replay of Shepard's flight, reflecting on his bravery, the courage of his family, the hard work of the team that made the flight possible, and just how far we all have come in 50 years.
It is at special occasions like this that I especially appreciate the community we have at cS, people who mark these events with true interest and respect.
hlbjr Member
Posts: 514 From: Delray Beach Florida USA Registered: Mar 2006
posted 05-05-2011 05:20 PM
I was there today also and got to talk for a few seconds to Ken. It was great seeing and talking to so many people who worked on the Mercury project. I finished the afternoon buying a couple of books at the Air Force Space Museum located outside the Port Canaveral gate next to Space X Launch Operations building. It was a great day.
mercsim Member
Posts: 239 From: Phoenix, AZ Registered: Feb 2007
posted 05-05-2011 05:57 PM
I think most of us have seen that footage dozens (okay, maybe hundreds) of times. However, NASA did a great job of putting together a great tribute for this great day.
His daughter Julie really summed it all up when she said "Who wouldn't want to follow that type of fellow American into whatever you were going to accomplish?"
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 846 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted 05-08-2011 02:23 PM
I wish I had been at the Cape!
I celebrated by watching the TV version of "Moonshot", and From the Earth to the Moon's "Can we do this?" and "Miles and Miles". I also looked at the film "Race into Space" (which I also advised — but they didn't listen!).
ejectr Member
Posts: 1830 From: Killingly, CT Registered: Mar 2002
posted 05-09-2011 10:56 AM
Which President gave Shepard his appointment to Rear Admiral lower half?
NavySpaceFan Member
Posts: 661 From: Norfolk, VA Registered: May 2007
posted 05-09-2011 11:43 AM
It was President Nixon in 1971, and the rank was just Rear Admiral. The upper half/lower half thing did not occur until the late 80s/early 90s.
ejectr Member
Posts: 1830 From: Killingly, CT Registered: Mar 2002
posted 05-05-2014 04:59 PM
Can't let the day (May 5, 2014) go by without at least posting a thank you to Alan Shepard for being the first US to ride the rocket. The day, the deed and you will always be remembered.
ColinBurgess Member
Posts: 2093 From: Sydney, Australia Registered: Sep 2003
posted 05-05-2014 05:31 PM
Boy, what a ride!
lspooz Member
Posts: 400 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Aug 2012
posted 05-05-2014 08:40 PM
Wow, I'm glad someone lit a candle to 5/5!
davidcwagner Member
Posts: 884 From: Albuquerque, New Mexico Registered: Jan 2003
posted 05-04-2021 06:57 PM
I remember watching this launch on a big 16"(?) B&W TV.
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 2701 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 05-05-2021 04:49 AM
It was this flight that started my enthusiasm in space exploration and a career in aviation. My mother sat me in front of our TV and made me watch this launch. I was almost 4 years old at the time and it shaped my life road. Thanks mom.
posted 05-05-2009 12:00 AM
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