OTD…April 25 and the Hubble deploy

#OTD…in 1996, Atlantis launched to Russia’s space station Mir

More than five years after a final shuttle servicing mission — and a quarter of a century since its launch in April 1990 — the Hubble Space Telescope is operating in near flawless fashion, and engineers are optimistic the observatory will remain on the forefront of astronomy at least through 2020.

#OTD in 1983…Challenger launched with America’s first woman astronaut. Watch the launch: