OTD…May 7 and STS-49

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.

Today in 1996…The launch of Columbia and the ill-fated Tethered Satellite System. Watch the liftoff:

Dave Scott, Jim Irwin and Al Worden left for the Moon today in 1971 aboard Apollo 15 bound for Hadley rille with the first Lunar Roving Vehicle.