TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

May 5, 1961

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.

ON THIS DATE

1925

Schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution.

2009

Texas health officials confirmed the first death of a U.S. resident with swine flu.

2014

A narrowly divided Supreme Court upheld Christian prayers at the start of local council meetings.