[goofywife]

1961: Shepard is first American in space
Alan B. Shepard Jr., 37, became the first American to reach space today after soaring 115 miles above the earth in a spacecraft named Freedom 7.

"Shepard's blazing 5,000-mile-an-hour flight was only the beginning of American exploration of space, said Hugh Dryden, deputy administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration," the Oakland Tribune reported on May 5, 1961. "Soon, Dryden said, an astronaut will orbit the earth and later travel to the moon and back."

NOTE: After the historic flight, President Kennedy telephoned Shepard to offer his congratulations and said that he looked forward to seeing him. On May 8, Shepard was given a hero's welcome in Washington D.C.


1945: Japanese balloon bomb kills six in U.S.
A balloon carrying a bomb launched by the Japanese exploded near Lakeview, Oregon, today, killing a woman and five children on a fishing trip. The U.S. government did not release the information until several days after the incident. "Undersecretary of war Patterson disclosed today that a mother and five children were killed by a bomb from one of the long range Japanese balloons sporadically attacking the western part of this country," informed The Evening Tribune on May 31, 1945. NOTE: Their deaths were the only recorded fatalities within the U.S. mainland that were caused by an enemy attack during World War II.

1925: Science teacher is arrested for teaching evolution
High school science teacher J.T. Scopes of Dayton, Tennessee, was arrested today for violating a state law that prohibits the teaching of evolution. On May 6, 1925, the Oakland Tribune noted, "The defense will attack the constitutionality of the new law." NOTE: The “Scopes Monkey Trial” became a watershed case in the creation vs. evolution controversy, and ended with Scopes being found guilty and fined $100.00.

1904: Cy Young pitches perfect game
Baseball great Cy Young pitched the first perfect game in the history of modern professional baseball today. "Not for twenty-four years has any pitcher been able to accomplish the feat that big 'Cy' Young of the Boston Americas performed this afternoon -- that of retiring a team in succession without allowing a single man to get to first," explained The Mansfield News on May 6, 1904. NOTE: Prior to the formation of Major League Baseball, there had been other no hit games in the late 1800s.