On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard spends an exciting 15 minutes in suborbital space to become the first American to travel into space, only three years after the establishment of NASA and less than a month after Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut became the first person in space and the first to orbit the…
Tag: nasa
74 Seconds After Liftoff, Challenger Explodes: January 28, 1986
The space shuttle Challenger exploded in a ball of fire shortly after it left the launching pad, and all seven astronauts on board were lost. The date was January 28, 1986 The worst accident in the history of the American space program was witnessed by thousands of spectators who watched in wonder, then horror, as…