Alan Shepard became the first American to travel in space on May 5, 1961.
Former University of Missouri professor and retired NASA Astronaut Linda Godwin said Shepard s mission made a lasting impact on space explorations that followed even hers. For one thing, it stood out, Godwin said. We ve had to start with that step, to move along and get to be where we are.
Godwin was only 8 years old when Shepard took flight, and she remembers being fascinated. When I was a kid at that age, I didn t have any clue that I could do that, she said. They didn t have any women, and it seemed very far away from the environment where I was growing up.