OTD…Aug. 18 and STS-68 abort

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

#OTD in 2008, the launch of Endeavour on STS-123.

The final manned Mercury mission was launched atop an Atlas rocket on this day in 1963 with Gordon Cooper aboard Faith 7 for a 34-hour, 22-orbit flight.