Throwback Thursday: America enters the space race in 1961

On May 5, 1961, America launched its first man into space as Alan Shepard rode the Freedom 7 capsule on a 15-minute suborbital flight to 116.5 miles in altitude and 303 miles downrange to splashdown. Ten years later, at age 47 and the oldest astronaut in the program, Shepard would command the Apollo 14 mission.