Tag: OTD
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July 24, 1969: Apollo 11 returns home
Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific today in 1969, fulfilling President Kennedy’s challenge to a nation of landing a man to the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.
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July 20, 1976: Landing on the red planet
Today marks the 40th anniversary — July 20, 1976 — of the first U.S. robotic landing on another planet by the Viking 1 spacecraft on Mars.
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July 20, 1969: Lunar landing of Apollo 11
Mankind’s first landing on the Moon and stepping foot on the lunar surface occurred today in 1969 by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
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July 16, 1969: Launch of Apollo 11
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins launched today in 1969 aboard Apollo 11 for one of the defining moments of the 20th century — man’s first landing on the moon.
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July 15, 1975: Apollo-Soyuz Test Project launched
American and Soviet crews were launched today in 1975 for the first handshakes in space between the two superpowers as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. The Soviet Soyuz with cosmonauts Aleksey Leonov and Valeriy Kubasov was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome about seven hours before the American Apollo-Saturn 1B with Tom Stafford, Vance Brand…
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On this date…Crew launched to fix Skylab
WATCH: The first crew to inhabit Skylab — Conrad, Weitz and Kerwin — launched today in 1973 for a 28-day mission that successfully made critical repairs, brought the station into operation and conducted solar astronomy, Earth resources and medical experiments.
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On this date…Second American in orbit
WATCH: 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.
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April 12, 1981: 35 years since the maiden space shuttle launch
America’s first space shuttle launched on this day 35 years ago as the reusable flying machine, Columbia, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center with John Young and Bob Crippen aboard. The launch came 20 years to the day after human spaceflight began. Yuri Gagarin launched aboard Vostok 1 to become the first person to orbit…