OTD…March 3 and Apollo 9

Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific today in 1969, fulfilling President Kennedy’s challenge to a nation of landing a man to the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

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.

#OTD in 1993…Endeavour launched with the first Spacehab module and retrieval of the European EURECA satellite