Suggested Searches

2 min read

The Stars and Stripes in Space

first U.S. flag flown in space
This flag accompanied NASA astronaut Alan B. Shepard on his 15-minute suborbital journey on May 5, 1961.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; on August 3, 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

Today, we celebrate flags flown on NASA missions. This flag accompanied NASA astronaut Alan B. Shepard on his 15-minute suborbital journey on May 5, 1961. As the first U.S. human spaceflight, this flag was apparently the first U.S. flag flown into space–and the first flag to have been flown in space twice.

According to Smithsonian: “The student council president and the principal of Cocoa Beach School near the Florida launch site gave the flag to a reporter, who in turn gave it to the head of the NASA Space Task Group, Robert Gilruth, with the request that it be included on Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3), if possible. The flag was rolled up and stuck in a wiring bundle in Shepard’s spacecraft, Freedom 7, although he was not aware that it was there. After it returned to Earth, the flag was also flown over Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA on July 4, 1961. Gilruth then returned the flag to the school, which was later called the Freedom 7 School. After the school later closed, the Smithsonian Institution received it in 1984 as a gift of the Brevard (Florida) County Board of Education.”

Learn more about U.S. flags on NASA missions.

Image Credit: Smithsonian Air & Space Museum