All manned space missions by NASA have launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. There were plans years ago to launch military Space Shuttles in a polar orbit from Vandenberg...
The first NASA astronaut to reach space was Alan Shepard, on May 5, 1961, only 23 days after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth.
The seven original Mercury Program...