HOSUTON (NASA PR) — In 1961, the United States and the Soviet Union found themselves in a race to put the first human being into space. The United States initiated Project Mercury in 1958 to put the first American into space and selected its first group of astronauts in 1959 to begin training for that mission. The Soviets kept their plans secret but began their own human spaceflight program and selected their own team of 20 cosmonauts in 1960.

The Soviets won the race in April 1961 when cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin completed a single orbit around the Earth aboard his Vostok capsule. On May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard became the first American in space during a suborbital flight aboard his Mercury capsule named Freedom 7. Three weeks later, based on the success of Shepard’s brief flight, President John F. Kennedy committed the United States to achieving a lunar landing before the end of the decade.

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2020 (Bill Posey/Charlie Crist PR) — As we pass the 59th Anniversary of the first American human space flight launch that saw Alan Shepard pilot the famous Freedom 7 capsule as part of the Mercury program, U.S. Representatives Bill Posey (R-Florida) and Charlie Crist (D-Florida) introduced bipartisan legislation to build on that important legacy and keep America first in space.

The American Space Commerce Act (H.R. 6783) supports American leadership in space by providing an incentive for American space firms to keep investing in America and launching from American soil.