On this date…Second American in orbit

#OTD in 1983…Challenger lifts off on the first nighttime shuttle launch…and Discovery launches on her inaugural Spaceflight

#OTD…Launch of Discovery in 1990 with the Hubble Space Telescope, our window on the universe!

One job deemed essential by the European Space Agency coronavirus pandemic involves shepherding the BepiColombo spacecraft through a high-speed flyby of planet Earth next month, an immovable event on the $1.8 billion mission’s seven-year journey to Mercury.