MIKE GRACIA

     
    
  
    
    
    
   
Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission,was launched with
astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr.; Donn F. Eisele; and Walter
Cunningham aboard.

The U.S. Congress passed legislation establishing the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),
a civilian agency responsible for coordinating America’s
activities in space, on July 29, 1958. The agency opened
for business on Oct. 1, 1958.

President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics
and Space Act of 1958 into law on July 29, creating
NASA.

TIM MAGUIRE

Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán is 78 years old today.

In 2023, Rolling Stone named him the 11th greatest guitarist
of all time. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and three Latin
Grammy Awards, and was inducted along with his namesake
band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.     

Skylab, America’s first space station, was successfully launched
into an orbit around the earth. Eleven days later, U.S. astronauts
Charles Conrad, Joseph Kerwin, and Paul Weitz made the planned 
rendezvous with Skylab, repairing a jammed solar panel and
conducting scientific experiments during their 28-day stay
aboard the space station.

From left, Joseph P. Kerwin, science pilot; Paul J. Weitz,
pilot; and Charles Conrad Jr., commander.