This day in history: Alan Shepard becomes first American in space - 4029tv

That will be followed by a flight by three businessmen to the International Space Station in January.

"It's a huge leap, right?" said NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, commander of SpaceX's most recent flight to the space station.

Shepard was actually the second person in space — the Soviet Union launched cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin three weeks earlier, to Shepard's everlasting dismay.

Nearly two-thirds are American and just over 20% Soviet or Russian.

Twenty years ago, NASA clashed with Russian space officials over the flight of the world's first space tourist.

California businessman Dennis Tito paid $20 million to visit the space station, launching atop a Russian rocket.

Virginia-based Space Adventures arranged Tito's weeklong trip, which ended May 6, 2001, as well as seven more tourist flights that followed.

They'll be followed in December by Space Adventures' two newest clients, also launching on a Russian Soyuz rocket.

John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University, where he founded the Space Policy Institute, has mixed feelings about this shift from space exploration to adventure tourism.

"It takes the romance and excitement out of going to space," Logsdon said in an email this week