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February 28, 1966 — Astronauts Elliott See and Charles Bassett are killed in a plane crash

See and Bassett were scheduled to spend three days in orbit in May 1966, during which they would dock with the Gemini-Agena Target Vehicle. Bassett would perform an EVA. However, they were attempting to land in inclement weather in St. Louis, Missouri when their T-38 Talon struck the roof of the McDonnell Aircraft building where their spacecraft was located.

Read more about the original Gemini 9 crew here

image sources: NASA | St. Louis Post-Dispatch archive

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Shuttle-C with Space Station Freedom.

Date: 1990s

source

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USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) moored at Naval Air Station San Diego, October 1924

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unfortunately my body can't tell the difference between a regular season panthers vs oilers game and the stanley cup finals

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Alan Shepard

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Charles Schulz “Snoopy the Astrobeagle” Sketch Original Art (undated) Source

“After the Apollo 1 fire, NASA needed to rebuild its devastated Apollo program. They approached Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, for permission to use Snoopy as their mascot for safety. He agreed, and since then the popular pooch has been known as the World's Best Astronaut with a mission to promote safety-consciousness.”

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Sally Ride on the cover of People Magazine, June 20, 1983. Ride became the first American woman in space two days prior on June 18 onboard Space Shuttle Challenger

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February 26, 1966 — The first Saturn IB launches from Cape Canaveral

AS-201 was an unmanned suborbital test flight of the Saturn IB rocket and the Apollo Command and Service Modules. A total of nine Saturn IB rockets flew between 1966 and 1975, five of which were manned.

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Gordon Cooper during spacesuit training at Cape Canaveral, 1961

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February 25, 1960 — The first class of Soviet cosmonauts is selected

Almost a year after NASA selected its first seven astronauts, the Soviet Union selected 20 Soviet Air Force pilots to serve as its first space travelers, including Yuri Gagarin, Vladimir Komarov, and Alexei Leonov. Unlike in the US, the Soviet Union kept the names of these cosmonauts confidential until they safely reached orbit and multiple had either left the corps for medical reasons or perished before they flew in space. Due to this secrecy, no photo of the entire original cosmonaut corps exists.

This photo includes four non-cosmonauts: Sergei Korolev (to the right of Gagarin), and from Gagarin's left, cosmonaut training center director Karpov, parachute instructor Niktin, and physician Fyodrov. Image source: I. Snegirev via NASA

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Also from Reddit

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February 24, 2011 — STS-133 launches on the final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery

STS-133 was Discovery's 39th and final mission and carried a crew of six to the International Space Station. After five launch scrubs in November 2010, Discovery successfully delivered the Permanent Multipurpose Module Leonardo (named after Leonardo da Vinci), Robonaut2, and other payloads to the ISS. On March 9, after her crew performed two EVAs over 13 days in space, Discovery's wheels came to a stop for the final time at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida.

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Concept art of the Shuttle-C during launch.

Date: 1991

Posted on Flickr by Numbers Station.

NASA ID: 255-GRC-1991-C-04049

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Cowboy Bebop: Illustrations - The Wind

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February 23, 1965 — The sixth and final ASSET sub-scale reentry vehicle launches on a Thor-Delta rocket

McDonnell's Aerothermodynamic Elastic Structural Systems Environmental Test vehicles were used to study reentry heating. They were originally used to test the heat shield of the Air Force's X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane, but after the program was canceled in 1962, were used in spacecraft structural investigations.

Read more about the X-20 Dyna-Soar program here!

image source: USAF / of ASSET 1 on launch pad