The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1960, the latest event was in 2002.
One milestone event (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
2002 – LAUNCH: STS-102 (Discovery), LC39B, KSC – 7 person crew, ISS modules, crew exchange. Crew: Core – James Weatherbee, James Kelly, Andrew Thomas (Australia), Paul Richards. To ISS Expedition 2: Yuri Yusachev (Russia), James Voss, Susan Helms. From ISS Expedition 1: William Shepherd, Yuri Gridzenko (Russia), Sergei Krikalev (Russia).
Military and Classified Programs:
1991 – LAUNCH: USA 69, Titan IVA(403), SLC4E, VAFB – First Titan IV at VAFB
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
2002 – LAUNCH: TDRS 9, LM Atlas IIA, LC36A, CCAFS
Commercial Programs:
1997 – LAUNCH: Tempo2, LM Atlas IIA, LC36A, CCAFS – TV service, now part of Direct TV
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1960 – LAUNCH: GD Atlas D, LC11, CCAFS – first Atlas using all-inertial guidance system
1960 – LAUNCH FAILURE: Martin Titan I, LC16, CCAFS
1990 – LAUNCH: MM Peacekeeper, LF05, VAFB
1994 – LAUNCH: MM Peacekeeper, LF05, VAFB – MILESTONE: 30 years ago
2000 – LAUNCH: LM Peacekeeper, LF05, VAFB
Other:
NONE
The photos today are from two missions. First, there is a bad photo of the first Titan IV launch at VAFB in 1991. It was the best photo that I could find. I recall with that vehicle that we had a last-minute panic when a final walk down crew found a still-intact remove-before-flight tag (I don’t remember exactly where, but I think it was in one of the engine compartments).
Second, there are photos from the STS-102 mission in 2002 that include the launch, the crew and work on ISS. James Voss and Susan Helms still hold the record for the longest single spacewalk in history, at 8 hours 56 minutes (the first EVA of the mission).
