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 2023
Three milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1965 – LAUNCH FAILURE: A-003 (Apollo abort test), GD Little Joe II, LC36, White Sands, New Mexico – uncontrolled roll
1996 – LAUNCH: STS-77 (Endeavour), LC39B, KSC – 6 person crew, Spacehab – Commercial experiments. Crew: John Casper, Curtis Brown, Andrew Thomas (UK/US), Daniel Bursch, Mario Runco, Marc Garneau (Canadian Space Agency).
2001 – LAUNCH: STS-101 (Atlantis), LC39A, KSC – 7 person crew, ISS logistics. Crew: James Halsell, Scott Horowitz, Mary Weber, Jeffrey Williams, James Voss, Susan Helms, Yury Usachov (Russia).
2022 – LAUNCH: Starliner test (OFT-2), Atlas V, LC-41, CCSFS – uncrewed, successful dock with ISS
2023 – LM is one of the key team members announced for the Blue Origin-lead national team selected by NASA to develop human lunar landing systems for Artemis
Military and Classified Programs:
1964 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, GD Atlas/Lockheed Agena D, SLC4W, VAFB – MILESTONE: 60 years ago
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
1983 – LAUNCH: Intelsat 5 F6, GD Atlas SLV-3D/Centaur, LC36A, CCAFS
2004 – LAUNCH: LM AMC-11, LM Atlas IIAS, LC36B, CCAFS – MILESTONE: 20 years ago
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1959 – LAUNCH FAILURE: GD Atlas D launched, LC14, CCAFS – observed by the newly selected Mercury 7 astronauts – MILESTONE: 65 years ago
1967 – LAUNCH: GD Atlas F, 576-A1, VAFB
1973 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Poseidon C3, SSBN656, ETR
1980 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A3, LC29A, CCAFS
1985 – LAUNCH FAILURE: Lockheed Polaris A3, UK S22, ETR
Other:
NONE
The photos today are from two missions. First, there is the launch of OFT-2 (Starliner) on Atlas V in 2022. Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky, released to Public Domain.
Second, there are photos of the STS-101 mission in 2001, including launch, crew and a view of the upgraded cockpit on Atlantis during flight. Photo Credits: NASA.
