May 5 marks the 50th annivesary of the first American human spaceflight, a 15-minute suborbital hop by Alan Shepard in the Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7. Michael Neufeld will discuss this historic flight, which came three weeks after the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly in space.
The Ask An Expert lecture series at the National Mall building is presented every Wednesday at noon. A Museum staff member talks to the public about the history, collection, or personalities related to a specific artifact or exhibition in the Museum.
An x-ray of Alan Shepard’s Apollo 14 spacesuit allows curators and conservators to “see” inside space clothing—a task that had previously been done by peering through the neck or the wrist with a flashlight.