On May 5 , 1961 which astronaut became the first American in space aboard " Freedom 7 " , launched by a Redstone booster on a 15 - minute ballistic ( suborbital ) flight ?
The narrator says ( from 8'46 " to 8 ' 51 " ) only that the V - derived Redstone " has only a tenth of the power of Korolev 's rocket .