OTD…Oct. 13 and Endeavour

The last remaining external fuel tank built for the space shuttle program but never flew will depart its factory in New Orleans on Tuesday for a long sea voyage to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

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.

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