July 24, 1969: Apollo 11 returns home

#OTD in 1994…Discovery launched to develop new techniques for monitoring Earth’s environment from space…and in 2006…Construction of the space station resumed as Atlantis delivered a power-generating truss

#OTD in 1997…Columbia launched on the reflight of her shortened Microgravity Science Laboratory mission

Returning home after a 64-day test flight, astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken blazed through Earth’s atmosphere and parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Sunday, a final major step before NASA formally certifies the crew capsule for operational missions to the International Space Station.