NASA requests eight Redstone-type launch vehicles from the Army for Project Mercury development flights. Four days later, McDonnell Aircraft Co. is selected to build the Mercury capsules.
Navy Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr. assumed leadership of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, succeeding Navy Adm. John Aquilino at a change of command ceremony, urging action amid China's “increasing intrusive and expansionist claims,” on May 3