The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1960, the latest event was in 2012
No milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1961 – LAUNCH: Mercury-Atlas MA-4, GD Atlas D, LC14, CCAFS – first orbital Mercury mission, mechanical crewman simulator
1977 – ALT-13, Free Flight #2, Enterprise Shuttle/Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, Dryden Research Center, Edwards AFB. Crew: Joe Engle, Richard Truly. 26,000 feet, 5 minutes 28 seconds shuttle flight, tail cone on, lake bed landing. Approach and Landing Test program.
Military and Classified Programs:
1960 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Discoverer 15, Thor/Lockheed Agena B, SLC1E, VAFB
2012 – LAUNCH: USA 238/Cubesats, ULA Atlas V 401, SLC3E, VAFB
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1960 – LAUNCH FAILURE: Lockheed Polaris A1, SSBN599, ETR
1990 – LAUNCH: MM Peacekeeper, LF05, VAFB
Other:
NONE
The photo today is of the launch of Mercury-Atlas 4 (MA-4) in 1961. Mercury-Atlas 4 was the first successful orbital flight of the Mercury program and included a mechanical simulator of the crew man. Photo Credit: NASA.
