【美国人物志】阿朗·谢巴德 (3/8)

英语自学网

阿朗·谢巴德，美国宇航员，他在1961年5月5日的一次15分钟飞行中，成为第一个进入太空的美国人。
Hints:
Soviet Union
Sputnik
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
President Eisenhower
NASA
Project Mercury
Alan Shepard
Scott Carpenter
Gordon Cooper
John Glenn
Virgil Grissom
Walter Schirra
Donald Slayton

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The successes that the Soviet Union had with its Sputnik program caused the United States to speed up its plans for a space program. The Americans decided to launch a satellite as soon as possible. The first attempt failed. The rocket exploded during launch.
Support was growing, in Congress and among scientists, for a United States civilian space agency. Soon, Congress passed a bill creating NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. President Eisenhower signed the bill into law. NASA's job was to be scientific space exploration. Its major goal was sending the first Americans into space.
Within three months, the program had a name: Project Mercury. Mercury was the speedy messenger of the Greek gods. While engineers built the spacecraft, NASA looked for men to fly them.
NASA wanted military test pilots because they test fly new planes. Test pilots are trained to think quickly in dangerous situations. On April Seventh, 1959, the space agency announced the seven Mercury astronauts. They would be the first American space travelers. Alan Shepard was one. The others were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil Grissom, Walter Schirra and Donald Slayton.