Who was the first American in space?

The story behind the answer

Alan Shepard was the first American in space, piloting Freedom 7 (Mercury-Redstone 3) on May 5, 1961. His 15-minute suborbital flight crossed the boundary of space but did not orbit Earth, making him the second human in space after Yuri Gagarin.

To keep the pioneers straight: John Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth (1962), Neil Armstrong was the first person on the Moon (1969), and Jim Lovell commanded Apollo 13. Shepard later commanded Apollo 14 and famously hit a golf ball on the Moon. Memory tip: Shepard started U.S. human spaceflight, Glenn orbited, Armstrong moonwalked.