OTD…June 3, 1965 and the first American walk in space

#OTD in 1994…Endeavour launched on the second Space Radar Laboratory mission

#OTD in 1997…Cassini was launched on its billion-mile trek to Saturn

In a complex bit of orbital surgery, two spacewalking astronauts cut into a $2 billion cosmic ray detector Friday, venting away life-sustaining carbon dioxide refrigerant and then snipping eight coolant lines the size of soda straws to prepare the high-tech “patient” for a coolant pump transplant.