OTD…Oct. 30 and STS-61A

Today marks the 40th anniversary — July 20, 1976 — of the first U.S. robotic landing on another planet by the Viking 1 spacecraft on Mars.

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.

#OTD in 2005…Discovery launched on the first space shuttle mission after the Columbia tragedy