There was rejoicing throughout the United States yesterday at the successful launching and recovery from space of Commander Alan Shepard of the US Navy, the first American astronaut.
A feeling of relief and elation swept through Washington and smiling faces could be seen in every Government office from the White House down. ╥At last we have had a success,╙ explained an excited secretary in the State Department. ╥Something good has happened to us at last.╙ Britain and West Germany were among the first countries to send Governmental good wishes.
President Kennedy watched the event on television and also listened to reports relayed by the astronaut as he soared 115 miles high and 302 miles down the Atlantic rocket range from Cape Canaveral into the sea.
In a message afterwards Mr Kennedy praised Commander Shepard and his family and said the flight marked an historic milestone in America╒s exploration into space ╤ ╥but America still needs to work with the utmost speed and vigour in the further development of our space programme.╙ He called on everyone concerned to redouble their efforts.
The first reaction on Wall Street to the successful space flight was a two-dollar rise in shares of McDonnell Aircraft, which made the Mercury capsule. The first reaction in Russia was to report the event as the fifteenth item in Moscow Radio╒s news bulletin.
Georgi Pokrovsky, a leading Russian ballistics expert, said it meant the US man-in-space programme was about two years behind Russia. However, Ivan Shevlakov, deputy director of the Moscow Planetarium, said: ╥We are very happy that this experiment has succeeded. I am sure Soviet scientists will send their congratulations to America scientists and to the pilot.╙
