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

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Today is Tuesday, May 5, the 125th day of 2026. There are 240 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.

Also on this date:

In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena.

In 1862, Mexican troops repelled French attacks on the city of Puebla de los Ángeles in the Battle of Puebla, also known as the Battle of Cinco de Mayo.

In 1925, high school teacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)

In 1945, 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 1973, Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories, in a time of 1:59.4 — a record that still stands.

In 1981, Irish Republican Army militant Bobby Sands died at age 27 at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland on the 66th day of a hunger strike.

In 1994, American teenager Michael Fay was caned at a Singaporean prison for vandalism, a day after his sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Bill Clinton.

In 2016, Lonnie Franklin Jr. was convicted of 10 counts of murder in the “Grim Sleeper” serial killings in Los Angeles that targeted poor, young Black women over two decades.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Lance Henriksen is 86. Comedian-actor Michael Palin is 83. Actor Richard E. Grant is 69. R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn is 51. Actor Vincent Kartheiser is 47. Actor Danielle Fishel is 45. Actor Henry Cavill is 43. Singer-songwriter Adele is 38. R&B singer Chris Brown is 37. Tennis player Aryna Sabalenka is 28. Olympic figure skating gold medalist Nathan Chen is 27. Tennis player Carlos Alcaraz is 23. Actor Jenna Davis is 22.