The Houston Astros began their career as the Colt .45s in 1962. Just over a year later, on this day in 1963, Don Nottebart threw the first no hitter in franchise history.
Expansion came to baseball in 1961, when the American League added the Los Angeles Angels and the latest incarnation of the Washington Senators. With the American League having expanded to ten teams, the National League followed suit in the next year, adding the New York Mets and the Houston Colt .45s, as the Astros were originally named.
While their expansion counterparts went 50 years before their first no hitter, it did not take nearly that long for the Astros franchise to notch their first no hitter.