He rode onboard a Redstone rocket.  The countdown started the day before the launch.  It began at 8:30 am on May 4, 1961.  This countdown included all spacecraft preparations before Shepard was even taken to the launch pad.  He was taken to the launch pad 2 hours and 20 minutes before launch.  Okay, there were no real problems before then.  After Shepard got there, some problems came up with a power inverter.  That problem came at T-15 minutes.  They fixed it and put the countdown back to T-35 minutes.  (T- means T minus.) He launched at 9:34 in the morning.

Shepard flew at an altitude of 116.5 miles.  He flew a distance of 303 miles.  He got up to 5,134 miles per hour.  Wow.  The flight lasted 15 minutes and 28 seconds.