Today in History: May 5, Alan Shepard becomes first American in space

The present day is Monday May the th day of There are days left in the year At present in history On May astronaut Alan B Shepard Jr became America s first space traveler as he made a -minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom Also on this date In Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on the island of St Helena Related Articles Senate won t propose new taxes Spilka says Trump on due process I don t know This day in History May four killed during anti-war protest at Kent State University Texas governor signs B voucher bill in milestone for school choice Nearly million Massachusetts borrowers prep for attendee loan payments In Mexican troops repelled French attacks on the city of Puebla de los ngeles in the Battle of Puebla also known as the Battle of Cinco de Mayo In schoolteacher John T Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution Scopes was located guilty but his conviction was later set aside In in the only fatal attack on the U S mainland during World War II a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon killing a pregnant woman and five children In Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby the first of his Triple Crown victories in a time of a record that still stands In Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at age at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland on his th day without food In Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Bill Clinton In Lonnie Franklin Jr was convicted of counts of murder in the Grim Sleeper serial killings in Los Angeles that targeted poor young Black women over two decades The present day s Birthdays Actor Lance Henriksen is Comedian-actor Michael Palin is Actor Richard E Grant is R B singer Raheem DeVaughn is Actor Vincent Kartheiser is Actor Danielle Fishel is Actor Henry Cavill is Singer-songwriter Adele is R B singer Chris Brown is Tennis player Aryna Sabalenka is Olympic figure skating gold medalist Nathan Chen is Tennis participant Carlos Alcaraz is