Who was the first American in space?

Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, 1961, during the Freedom 7 mission as part of Project Mercury. His 15-minute suborbital flight made him the second human in space after Yuri Gagarin. John Glenn later became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962, while Chuck Yeager was a test pilot who broke the sound barrier but never flew in space.