OTD…Oct. 3 and STS-51J

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

US-French-Saudi crew launched aboard Discovery with a multi-satellite payload

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.