OTD…July 31 and STS-46

NASA’s Kepler planet-finder began its mission to discover Earth-like worlds orbiting other stars in the galaxy today in 2009, successfully launching aboard a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral.

#OTD…Launch of Columbia in 1998 on the Neurolab Spacelab mission

Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific today in 1969, fulfilling President Kennedy’s challenge to a nation of landing a man to the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.