Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961. It was piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first flight with people of Project Mercury. The project had the objective of putting an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and returning him safely. Shepard's mission was a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary goal of demonstrating his ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and re-entry.