OTD…July 1 and STS-94

The flight of Gemini 4 launched today in 1965 for NASA’s first Extra Vehicular Activity spacewalk by Ed White on a four-day orbital mission with commander Jim McDivitt.

American and Soviet crews were launched today in 1975 for the first handshakes in space between the two superpowers as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

America’s first space shuttle launched on this day 35 years ago as the reusable flying machine, Columbia, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center with John Young and Bob Crippen aboard.