The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1963, the latest event was in 1998.
No milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
NONE
Military and Classified Programs:
1963 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, GD Atlas/Lockheed Agena B, SLC3E, VAFB
1967 – LAUNCH FAILURE: Lockheed Corona 117, Thor SLV-2G/Lockheed Agena D, SLC1E, VAFB – Stage I
1998 – LAUNCH: USA-139, LM Titan IVB(401)/Centaur, LC40, CCAFS
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
1971 – LAUNCH FAILURE: Mariner H (8) GD Atlas SLV-3C/Centaur, LC36B, CCAFS – early Centaur shutdown. Martin Marietta built the propulsion subsystem on this Mariner spacecraft.
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1963 – LAUNCH FAILURE: MM Titan II, LC16, CCAFS
1973 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Poseidon C3, SSBN655, ETR
Other:
NONE
The photo today is of the launch of Mariner H (8) on Atlas SLV-3C/Centaur in 1971. Martin Marietta built the spacecraft propulsion system for JPL.
Photo Credit: NASA/Public Domain.
Here’s a story from Wikipedia on the failure:
The main Centaur engine was ignited 265 seconds after launch, but the upper stage began to oscillate in pitch and tumbled out of control. The Centaur stage shut down 365 seconds after launch due to starvation caused by the tumbling. The Centaur and spacecraft payload separated and