April 14, 1981: Landing of Columbia on STS-1

OTD in 1994…Endeavour experienced an on-pad abort due to a main engine problem during startup

#OTD in 1982…Columbia launches on the fourth space shuttle mission. #OTD in 1995…Atlantis launches on first shuttle-Mir docking flight

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.