OTD…July 31 and STS-46

#OTD in 2012…Journey of shuttle Endeavour through Los Angeles begins

#OTD in 1998…The launch of Discovery on final shuttle-Mir docking mission

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.