The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1967, the latest event was in 2012
No milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1996 – LAUNCH: STS-75 (Columbia), LC39B, KSC – 7 person crew, LM TSS-1R (tethered satellite) – TSS-1R (reflight) deployment was unsuccessful. Crew: Andrew Allen, Scott Horowitz, Jeffery Hoffman, Maurizio Cheli (ESA – Italy), Claude Nicollier (ESA – Switzerland), Franklin Chang-Diaz, Umberto Guidoni (Italian Space Agency)
2000 – LANDING: STS-99 (Endeavour), KSC
2010 – LANDING: STS-130 (Endeavour), KSC
Military and Classified Programs:
1967 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, Thor SLV-2A/Lockheed Agena D, SLC3W, VAFB
1978 – LAUNCH: GPS SVN1, GD Atlas F/SVS, SLC3E, VAFB – First NAVSTAR (GPS) satellite
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1992 – LAUNCH (4): Lockheed Trident D-5, SSBN736, ETR
2012 – LAUNCH (3): LM Trident D-5, SSBN735, WTR
Other:
NONE
The photos today are of the STS-75 launch, the crew and the start of deployment of TSS-1R, which failed to fully deploy.
STS-75 mission scientists hoped to deploy the tether to a distance of 20.7 kilometers (12.9 mi). Over 19 kilometers (12 mi) of the tether were deployed (over a period of 5 hours) before the tether broke. Many pieces of floating debris were produced by the plasma discharge and rupture of the tether, and some collided with it. The satellite remained in orbit for a number of weeks and was easily visible from the ground.
