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Today in History, May 5th

On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space aboard Freedom 7. Plus the Battle of Puebla and Napoleon's death on Saint Helena.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published May 5, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

May 5 is best known for 1961, when Alan Shepard rode the Freedom 7 capsule on a 15-minute flight to become the first American in space. The same date saw Mexican troops beat a French army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, the origin of Cinco de Mayo, and Napoleon die in exile on Saint Helena in 1821.

The big story: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space (1961)

The U.S. was playing catch-up. On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had orbited Earth and come home safely. Less than a month later it was America’s turn, with a far shorter trip. After a launch attempt on May 2 was called off for weather, and after more than two hours of delays on May 5, a Redstone rocket lifted Navy Commander Alan Shepard off the pad at Cape Canaveral at 9:34 a.m. Eastern. His Mercury capsule, Freedom 7, followed an up-and-down suborbital path that peaked 116 miles high and gave him about five minutes of weightlessness. Coming back, he felt up to 11 g’s for a few seconds. The capsule splashed into the Atlantic about 300 miles southeast of the Cape, and a recovery team had Shepard and his spacecraft within 20 minutes. Total flight time: 15 minutes and 22 seconds. Nearly ten years later, Shepard walked on the moon with Apollo 14.

More events on May 5

Year	What happened
1821	Napoleon Bonaparte died as a British prisoner on the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he had been sent after Waterloo.
1862	An outnumbered Mexican army under General Ignacio Zaragoza drove off a French invasion force at the Battle of Puebla. The victory is celebrated as Cinco de Mayo.
1904	Cy Young of the Boston Americans pitched the first perfect game of baseball’s modern era, beating the Philadelphia Athletics 3-0 in 83 minutes.
1921	Coco Chanel introduced her perfume Chanel No. 5 at her boutique on the Rue Cambon in Paris.
1945	A Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon as a woman and five children tried to move it, killing all six. They were the only known American civilians killed by enemy action on the U.S. mainland during World War II.
1955	The U.S., Britain and France ended their military occupation of West Germany, which became a sovereign state.
1981	IRA prisoner Bobby Sands, who had been elected to the British Parliament during his protest, died after 66 days on hunger strike in the Maze Prison near Belfast.
2002	Spider-Man became the first movie to earn more than $100 million in its opening weekend, taking in $114.8 million.
2023	The World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was no longer a global health emergency.

Born on May 5

1818: Karl Marx, philosopher and co-author of The Communist Manifesto, born in Trier, Prussia.
1864: Nellie Bly, journalist famous for racing around the world in 72 days, born in Cochran’s Mills, Pennsylvania.
1988: Adele, English singer and songwriter, born in Tottenham, London.