This Day in Space - 5 May

Just 23 days earlier Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space
The U.S. would be close behind
On May 5, 1961 Alan Shepard Jr. became the second human in space
His Mercury-Redstone 3 suborbital flight lasted 15 minutes
Shepard was an American hero But three weeks too late to be a global icon