This is an authentic, first-hand, eye-witness' historic account of the recovery of the First U. S. Manned Space Flight made by Alan B. Shepard Jr. on May 5, 1961.

This account details the role the USS Lake Champlain CVS-39 played as the recovery vessel. Many of the images supporting the account are unique, personal, and are not found elsewhere.

THIS WEEK'S PICTURE: Here is a picture of the Mercury Redstone 3 rocket launching from Cape Canaveral at 9:34 am on the morning of May 5, 1961. The black capsule can be seen sitting atop the sixty-foot tall rocket. The red ‘Little Joe’ emergency escape rocket is above the capsule. The total height of the vehicle was about 80 feet.

It was a clear day with minimal clouds and the weather 300 miles downrange was even better. There were no clouds in the recovery area unlike that seen developing here over land near the shoreline of Cape Canaveral.

The railroad tracks to the left of the launch pad in this photo were used to roll the tall gantry back from the Mercury Redstone rocket just prior to the launch. The yellow ‘knuckle’ crane to the right was used to raise Shepard from the launch pad level to the gantry ‘clean room’ where he was helped into the capsule.