OTD…July 29 and STS-51F

#OTD in 1991…The launch of Columbia on Spacelab Life Sciences 1 mission

#OTD in 1982 the 3rd launch of the space shuttle and in 1996 the 3rd Mir docking missioN

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.