TIM MAGUIRE

Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes first man to walk on the moon.

On June 3, 1965, 120 miles above the Earth, Major Edward H. White II opens
the hatch of the Gemini 4 and steps out of the capsule, becoming the first
American astronaut to walk in space.

Launching of the Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) rocket from Cape
Canaveral on astronaut Alan B. Shepard’s Freedom 7 suborbital
mission. 

From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.
is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the
first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which
lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere,
was a major triumph for NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1970, an oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13,
preventing a planned moon landing.

SANDY KOZEL

On January 28, 1986, the NASA Space Shuttle orbiter undertaking mission
STS-51-L and the tenth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger  broke apart 73
seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard: five NASA
astronauts, one payload specialist, and a civilian school teacher.

The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of
Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 a.m. EST.

Space Shuttle Challanger crew: Back row from left to right…Ellison
S. Onizuka, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, and Judy Resnik.
In the front row from left to right: Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee,
and Ron McNair.

President Reagan delivers a nationwide speech following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Challenger shuttle memorial in Arlington cemetery, Washington DC.