1975: Astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand, and Donald “Deke” Slayton launched from Cape Canaveral in a Saturn 1B rocket to meet up with the Soyuz 19 cosmonauts that had launched from Kazakhstan. Mr. Slayton, at 51, became the oldest man to fly in space at that time. He was also one of the original seven astronauts. This Apollo mission, when it ended on 24 July, was the last US manned space mission until the first space shuttle launch in 1981. (NASA Image)