People gathered in Florida to mark the first American who rocketed to go into space 50 years ago

Over 600 people in the US state of Florida marked the exact moment that the first American rocketed into space 50 years ago. The spot at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station where Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard blasted one hundred and sixteen miles into space on May 5th 1961 on a 15 minute sub – orbital flight, was where the ceremony took place.

Alan Shepards three daughters, along with one of the two surviving Mercury seven astronauts, Scott Carpenter and around one hundred Project Mercury workers were among the crowd.

The original capsule recording of the entire 15 minute flight was played by NASA during the ceremony, which lasted an hour. Alan Shepard was the second man in space and was the fifth man to eventually walk on the moon.

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