American astronauts

On May 5th, 1961, Astronaut Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. became the first American in space aboard the Freedom 7 Space capsule. The brief suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a milestone achievement. 

For National Astronaut Day, observed annually on May 5th, we feature a gallery from AP's photo archive highlighting American astronauts through the years. 

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Alan B. Shepard Jr 1961

Astronaut Alan Shepard, being helped out to his space suit aboard carrier USS Lake Champlain, after successful sub-orbital flight, May 5, 1961. (AP Photo)

Space Program 1959

Three pressure suited U.S. astronauts tumble weightlessly inside a padded cabin of a looping transport plane in the flight from Wright Air Development Center at Dayton Ohio, on Dec. 3, 1959. Restricted to such brief moments without weight near the earth, one of the seven project mercury astronauts will be weightless when the first manned U.S. satellite blasts free of the earth and orbits through space. (AP Photo/USAF)

Mercury Astronauts 1959

Mercury astronauts, left to right, R. Schirra, Shepherd, Virgil Grissom, Slayton, Glenn, Carpenter and Air Force Capt. Cooper with a mock-up of rocket and Mercury capsule, 1959. (AP Photo

Alan B. Shepard Jr 1961

Astronaut Alan Shepard Jr. rests in his capsule awaiting his trip into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 5, 1961. (AP Photo)

Alan B. Shepard Jr. 1961

Astronaut Alan Shepard is rescued by a U.S. Marine helicopter at the termination of his sub-orbital flight down range from the Florida eastern coast, May 5, 1961. (AP Photo)

Alan B. Shepard Jr. 1961

Astronaut Alan Shepard, at left, is shown receiving a medal from President John F. Kennedy, with fellow astronauts and Vice President Lyndon Johnson looking on in Washington, 1961. (AP photo)

John Glenn 1962

Astronaut John Glenn is seen with his Friendship 7 space capsule atop an Atlas rocket at Cape Canaveral, Fla., Feb. 20, 1962 ready for the flight which made him the first American to orbit the earth. (AP Photo)

Astronauts 1962

John Glenn, center, is greeted by fellow astronauts following his orbital flight, Feb. 23, 1962, Grand Turk Island, Turks and Caicos Islands. Left to right is: Scott Carpenter, Donald Slayton, Glenn, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard and Walter Schirra. The seventh member of the astronaut team, Leroy Cooper, was not available. (AP Photo/Pool)

Apollo Equipment 1966

An engineer wearing an astronaut type suit is held in horizontal position by wires to simulate weightlessness in Pasadena, California July 24, 1966 as he demonstrates a battery powered drill designed to drill a core sample from the moon’s surface when American astronauts reach it later in this decade. Scientists have determined that Surveyor I bounced two or three inches when it touched down. The craft’s footpads dug into the soil about an inch. Use of the drill by Apollo astronauts will permit an analysis of the moon surface as deep as 10 feet. (AP Photo)

Buzz Aldrin 1966

Astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin is shown in his spacesuit in 1966. (AP Photo)

Apollo 8 1968

Young and old alike flocked to the beaches overlooking Cape Kennedy, Fla., Dec. 21, 1968 for the liftoff of the Saturn 5 Apollo 8 launch vehicle. The Apollo 8 carried astronauts Frank Borman, William A. Anders and James A. Lovell, Jr., to a planned lunar orbital flight. (AP Photo)

Apollo 11 Moon Landing 1969

This photograph of astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, was taken inside the Lunar Module while it rested on the lunar surface, July 20, 1969. Astronauts Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, had already completed their extravehicular activity when this picture was made. (AP Photo/NASA)

Michael Collins 1969

Astronaut Michael Collins wears the space helmet for the Apollo 11 moon mission, on July 20, 1969. He?ll be in the command module when fellow astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr. descend on the lunar surface in the lunar module to take a walk on the moon early Monday. (AP Photo)

Apollo 11 1969

In this July 24, 1969 photo, President Richard Nixon, back to camera, greets the Apollo 11 astronauts in the quarantine van on board the U.S.S. Hornet after splashdown and recovery. The Apollo 11 crew from left: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. (AP Photo)

Apollo 11 1969

Ticker tape, tissue and confetti greet Apollo 11 astronauts on Chicago's LaSalle Street, August 13, 1969. From left, Edwin Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, and Michael Collins. (AP Photo)

Neil A. Armstrong 1969

Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, the first man on the moon, wave to the crowd during ticker tape parade up lower Broadway in New York on Wednesday, August 13, 1969. (AP Photo/ETA)

Space Shuttle Columbia 1981

The space shuttle Columbia is shown at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., during NASA's first shuttle flight in this April 12, 1981 photo. (AP Photo)

Guion Bluford Jr. 1983

Guion Bluford, Jr., shuttle Challenger mission specialist, is shown in portrait on returning to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, September 5, 1983. (AP photo)

Sally Ride 1983

Sally Ride, America's first woman to travel into space, is seen after leaving her jet Wednesday, June 16, 1983, at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where she and four other astronauts are scheduled to depart Saturday for NASA's seventh space shuttle mission. (AP photo/Bob Daugherty)

Space Shuttle Endeavour 1992

Spectators and photographers watch the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Sept. 12, 1992. This is the second launch for the Shuttle Endeavour which is carrying the Spacelab J payload and seven astronauts. (AP Photo/Paul Kizzle)

Mae C. Jemison 1992

Astronaut Mae C. Jemison is shown aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour as Science Mission Specialist on the STS-47 NASA Space lab-J flight, a US/Japan joint mission, in Sept. 1992. As part of the Autogenic Feedback Tranining Experiment (AFTE), Dr. Jemison is wearing the headband and other monitoring gear at various times during the flight in support of physiological evaluations. Dr. Jemison became the first black woman to orbit into space on Sept. 12. (AP Photo/NASA)

Space Shuttle Discovery Astronauts 2007

Astronauts of space shuttle Discovery, from left: Commander Pamela Melroy, Pilot George Zamka, mission specialists Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson, Douglas Wheelock, European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli of Italy and mission specialist Daniel Tani pose for photos after their arrival at the landing facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, Oct. 19, 2007. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Kazakhstan Space Station 2010

The Russian Soyuz TMA-16 space capsule carrying NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and Russian Maxim Surayev touches down not far from the Kazakh town of Arkalyk, Thursday, March 18, 2010. Astronauts from the United States and Russia landed safely in northern Kazakhstan's chilly steppes on Thursday after spending almost six months on the International Space Station.(AP Photo/Alexander Nemenov, Pool)

International Space Station 2011

In this Sat., Aug. 27, 2011 photo provided by NASA and taken from aboard the international space station by astronaut Ron Garan, the sun rises above above the earth in one of the sixteen sunrises astronauts see each day. This sunrise image shows the rising sun as the space station flew along a path between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina. (AP Photo/NASA)

Scott Kelly 2015

This July 12, 2015 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Scott Kelly poses for a selfie photo in the "Cupola" of the International Space Station. On Friday, Oct. 16, 2015, Kelly broke the U.S. record for the most time spent in space Friday _ 383 days. (Scott Kelly/NASA via AP)

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