We all know that Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human being in space. This, despite the fact that Shepard was the first American and second human being in space. This didn’t go well with American aerospace engineer Robert Gilruth, whose team Space Task Group (later became the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas) was in charge of Mercury. The mission that took the first American to space not only improved NASA’s technical know-how, but also how to handle their public relations better. The first American and second human to fly in space then went on to become the fifth and only Mercury astronaut to walk on the moon when he commanded the Apollo 14 mission in 1971.

Source: The Hindu May 05, 2024 09:02 UTC