Alan Shepard's trip on Freedom 7 into space only three weeks before was no real space voyage.

FORBES: The New Space Race: Follow The Talent

America's first man in space, Alan Shepard, who later walked on the moon in 1971's Apollo 14 mission, became a millionaire businessman.

CNN: After walking on moon, astronauts trod various paths

The first American in space, Alan Shepard, actually had no choice but to go in his suit while waiting on the launch pad.

NPR: Space Toilet Awaits Repair Mission

American astronaut Alan Shepard made a suborbital flight later that year, and John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962.

CNN: Reports: Monkey soars from Iran into space -- and back

President John F Kennedy's speech at Rice University in 1961, which laid down the gauntlet for a landing on the Moon, seemed a daunting challenge at the time, especially when the US had only sent Alan Shepard on a 20-minute sub-orbital flight.

BBC: Neil Armstrong: 'Diffident' emissary of mankind