OTD…April 5 launches of STS-37 and 131

#OTD…The first launch of Challenger in 1983 and Columbia’s shortened Spacelab mission in 1997

#OTD in 1985…Discovery launched on the first classified space shuttle mission for the Department of Defense. Watch the liftoff:

Scott Carpenter launched atop an Atlas rocket to become the second American to orbit the Earth today in 1962, flying for 4 hours and 39 minutes aboard Aurora 7 while making three revolutions of the globe.