<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mercury" id="mw7g" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Project Mercury">Project Mercury</a>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shepard" id="mw7w" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Alan Shepard">Alan Shepard</a> becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_3" id="mw8A" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Mercury-Redstone 3">flight</a>.