The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1962, the latest event was in 1993.
Two milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1975 – MM X-24B flight 56, Dryden Lake – Pilot Michael Love
Military and Classified Programs:
1962 – Department of Defense announces plans to develop MM Titan III launch vehicle, to be operational by 1965
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
1975 – LAUNCH: MM Viking 1 Orbiter/Lander, MM Titan IIIE/GD Centaur, LC41, CCAFS; Mars orbital insertion on 6/19/76, Lander lands on 7/20/76
1977 – LAUNCH: Voyager 2, MM Titan IIIE/GD Centaur, LC41, CCAFS – grand tour of the outer solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) – spacecraft has left the solar system.
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1964 – LAUNCH(2): Lockheed Polaris A3, SSBN628, ETR – MILESTONE: 60 years ago
1969 – LAUNCH: GD Atlas F 576-A1, VAFB – MILESTONE: 55 years ago
1976 – LAUNCH(2): Lockheed Poseidon C3, SSBN636, ETR
1980- LAUNCH (4): Lockheed Poseidon C3, SSBN625, ETR
1993 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Trident D5, SSBN739, ETR
Other:
NONE
The photos today are of the Mars Viking I Orbiter/Lander launch on a Titan IIIE/Centaur in 1975 and the launch of Voyager 2 on a Titan IIIE/Centaur in 1977. Photo Credits: NASA.
Voyager 2 is still operations as of 8/20/2024. The distance of the spacecraft is nearly 13 billion miles from Earth and five instruments are still functioning; a software update in 2023 overcame a communications problem.
