OTD…Jan. 28 and STS-51L

Today in 1967…The astronauts of Apollo 1 lost their lives in a launch pad fire.

#OTD in 2001…Atlantis launched the Quest airlock module to the International Space Station

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.