Since NASA's inception in 1958, the Soviet Union and the United States were in an iconic race to put the first human in outer space (and later on the Moon). The Soviet Union ultimately became the first country to send a human into space when Yuri Gagarin was launched into orbit on April 12, 1961. On May 5th, 1961, America sent their first citizen into space: Alan Shepard. The mission lasted 15 minutes, and the Freedom 7 aircraft just skimmed the surface of space and crashed in the Atlantic Ocean. Alan Shepard later became a member of the Apollo 14 moon mission, and became the first person to play a sport on the Moon, when he hit a golf ball on the Lunar surface in 1971.
