Note: article was originally published by the author at Talk of Titusville.

Sixty-four years ago, the United States launched its first human being aboard a rocket. It was a tense time politically, and space flight was the new political football of the Cold War. The country’s pride had been injured by the Soviet Union’s accomplishing space feats before the US, but that day — May 5, 1961 — it was a day that restored pride and confidence in America’s capabilities as a nation. And it all happened here, of course, on the Space Coast.

Given that newspapers were leading source of coverage at that time, here’s a look at how one local writer covered the story.