OTD…Jan. 22 and STS-42

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

#OTD in 2009…Discovery launches on her silver anniversary 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.