On this date…April 16 and Apollo 16

Scott Carpenter launched atop an Atlas rocket to become the second American to orbit the Earth today in 1962, flying for 4 hours and 39 minutes aboard Aurora 7 while making three revolutions of the globe.

#OTD in 1983…Challenger launched with America’s first woman astronaut. Watch the launch:

#OTD in 2001…Atlantis launched the Quest airlock module to the International Space Station