May 24, 1962 – Mercury-Atlas 7, launch of Aurora 7

Malcolm Scott Carpenter, one of the original seven astronauts selected by NASA in the early 1960s, was born on May 1st, 1925. He flew aboard the Aurora 7 spacecraft on May 24, 1962.

Wikipedia says:

“Working through five onboard experiments, Carpenter helped among other things to identify the mysterious ‘fire fly’ particles of frozen liquid around the craft, first observed by John Glenn. Carpenter was the first American astronaut to eat solid food in space.”