On This Date…March 13 and STS-29

The U.S. launched its first man into space on this date, May 5, 1961, as Alan Shepard rode the Freedom 7 capsule on a 15-minute suborbital flight to 116.5 miles in altitude and 303 miles downrange to splashdown.

#OTD in 1982 the 3rd launch of the space shuttle and in 1996 the 3rd Mir docking missioN

#OTD…America’s first shuttle launch in 1981 and another in 1985