The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1945, the latest event was in 2011
Three milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1969 – LAUNCH: Apollo 11, Saturn V, LC39A, KSC – First lunar landing mission with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins. Heritage companies, especially RCA, GE and Lockheed, had significant contributions to the Apollo program (see MARS STAR article in 2019 about Apollo 11) – MILESTONE: 55 years ago
Military and Classified Programs:
1971 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, Thorad SLV-2H/Lockheed Agena D, SLC1W, VAFB
1996 – LAUNCH: GPS IIA-26, Delta 7925, LC17B, CCAFS
2000 – LAUNCH: LM GPS IIR-5 (SVN44), Delta 7925-9.5, LC17A, CCAFS
2011 – LAUNCH: GPS IIF-2 (SVN 63), ULA Delta 4M+(4,2), LC37B, CCAFS
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
1973 – LAUNCH FAILURE: RCA ITOS 3, Thor Delta 0300, SLC2W, VAFB – second stage
1982 – LAUNCH: GE Landsat 4, Delta 3920, SLC2W, VAFB
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1945 – Trinity test, New Mexico (major historical milestone) – Success of this test leads to the end of WWII a few weeks later after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons, followed by rapid development of cold-war ICBM programs, with many contractors playing significant roles (Convair/GD, Martin Company among others). Test demonstrated the Plutonium implosion design (similar to the Fatman design used over Nagasaki).
1963 – LAUNCH: MM Titan I, 395-A2, VAFB
1964 – LAUNCH (2, one failure): Lockheed Polaris A2, SSBN629, ETR – MILESTONE: 60 years ago
1974 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A3, UK S26, ETR – MILESTONE: 50 years ago
1983 – Launch: MM Pershing 2, Fort Bliss, Texas
Other:
NONE
The photos today are from two major historical events. The first is from the Trinity test in the remote northern part of the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range (now White Sands Missile Range) in New Mexico in 1945, the culmination of war efforts by the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, Hanford and Oak Ridge (among other locations). I am including this photo today because the the success of this test and the subsequent atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 led to immediate consequences and rapid developments of nuclear delivery technologies that factored into major new business for Convair/GD, Martin Company, Lockheed and other heritage companies of our business. That business included new aircraft, ICBMs, and FBM development. This test was part of our history. I have also included a photo of the Trinity Site monument, which we saw on a visit to that historical site in October, 2018 (that photo is Copyright ©2018 Steven and Barbara Sande). Photo Credit for Trinity Test: Public Domain (from US government sources and PICRYL – database of public domain photos)
The second set of photos are from a peaceful historical event, the launch of Apollo 11 in 1969 and a photo of the famous crew that were part of the first lunar landing. As of July 20, 2024 Buzz Aldrin is still alive; Armstrong and Collins are both deceased. Photo Credits: NASA.
