On This Day:  April 23

1967 -- The first manned Soyuz space cap­sule is launched by the Sovi­et Union. Although it had failed catas­troph­i­cal­ly on each of its three test mis­sions, it man­ages to sur­vive an as­ton­ish­ing 17 7/8 or­bits be­fore plum­met­ing to earth.

22 | April | 24