Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. sits in his Freedom 7 Mercury capsule, ready for launch. Just 23 days earlier, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first man in space. <i>That little race between Gagarin and me,</i> Shepard said, <i>was really, really close.</i> After several delays and more than four hours in the capsule, Shepard was ready to go, and he famously urged mission controllers to <i>fix your little problem and light this candle.</i>
NASA
1961-05-05
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