The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1959, the latest event was in 2009.
Four milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1983 – LAUNCH: STS-6 (Challenger), LC39A, KSC – 4 person crew, TDRS-1 deployment – first flight of OV Challenger. Crew: Paul Weitz, Karol Bobko, Story Musgrave, Donald Peterson.
1997 – LAUNCH: STS-83 (Columbia), LC39A, KSC – 7 person crew, microgravity science lab, mission significantly shortened due to fuel cell failures. Mission reflown as STS-94 with same crew. Crew: James Halsell, Susan Still, Janice Voss, Michael Gerhardt, Donald Thomas, Roger Crouch, Greg Linteris.
Military and Classified Programs:
1997 – LAUNCH: LM DMSP 5D-2 F14, LM Titan II SLV, SLC4W, VAFB
2009 – LAUNCH: WGS-2, ULA Atlas V421, LC41, CCAFS – MILESTONE: 15 years ago
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
1991 – LAUNCH: GE Anik-E2, Ariane 44P, ELA2, Kourou, French Guiana
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1959 – LAUNCH: Martin Bold Orion, B-47 (aircraft), CCAFS – MILESTONE: 65 years ago
1968 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A3, EAG-154, Johnston Island, Pacific
1969 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A2E, SSBN616, ETR – MILESTONE: 55 years ago
1979 – LAUNCH (3): Lockheed Polaris A3, SSBN608, WTR – MILESTONE: 45 years ago
Other:
NONE
The photos today are of the launch of STS-6, the crew, and astronaut Story Musgrave doing an EVA during the mission. STS-6 was the first flight of OV Challenger in 1983. Commander Paul Weitz was on the first manned mission to Skylab (Skylab 2); Karol Bobko (Pilot) was selected as an astronaut for the MOL program and later came over to NASA when MOL was cancelled.
