who was the first us astronaut launched into space
Alan Shepard
A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis , Shepard saw action with the surface navy during World War II . He became a naval aviator in 1946 , and a test pilot in 1950 . He was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts in 1959 , and in May 1961 he made the first manned Project Mercury flight , MR - 3 , in a spacecraft he named Freedom 7 . His craft entered space , but did not achieve orbit . He became the second person , and the first American , to travel into space , and the first person to manually control the orientation of his spacecraft . In the final stages of Project Mercury , Shepard was scheduled to pilot the Mercury - Atlas 10 ( MA - 10 ) , which was planned as a three - day mission . He named Mercury Spacecraft 15B Freedom 7 II in honor of his first spacecraft , but the mission was cancelled . 
A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis , Shepard saw action with the surface navy during World War II . He became a naval aviator in 1946 , and a test pilot in 1950 . He was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts in 1959 , and in May 1961 he made the first manned Project Mercury flight , MR - 3 , in a spacecraft he named Freedom 7 . His craft entered space , but did not achieve orbit . He became the second person , and the first American , to travel into space , and the first person to manually control the orientation of his spacecraft . In the final stages of Project Mercury , Shepard was scheduled to pilot the Mercury - Atlas 10 ( MA - 10 ) , which was planned as a three - day mission . He named Mercury Spacecraft 15B Freedom 7 II in honor of his first spacecraft , but the mission was cancelled .
In May 1961, Alan Shepard made the first manned Project Mercury flight. He became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space.
He was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts in 1959 , and in May 1961 he made the first manned Project Mercury flight , MR - 3 , in a spacecraft he named Freedom 7 . He became the second person , and the first American , to travel into space , and the first person to manually control the orientation of his spacecraft .