Who was the first American in space?

The first American in space was Alan Shepard, who made his historic flight on May 5, 1961. Shepard was part of NASA's Mercury program, which aimed to put humans into space and ultimately into orbit around the Earth. His suborbital flight lasted about 15 minutes and reached an altitude of approximately 116 miles. This mission marked a significant milestone in the space race and demonstrated the United States' capabilities in space exploration.

Buzz Aldrin is well-known for being one of the astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission, which landed the first humans on the Moon, but he did not fly in space before Shepard. John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, achieving this feat in 1962, and Ed White was the first American to conduct a spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission in 1965. Each of these astronauts made significant contributions to space exploration, but none of them preceded Alan Shepard's historic flight into space.