The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1961, the latest event was in 2015
Two milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1963 – RCA received the go-ahead from Grumman to develop the Apollo LM landing radar
1984 – LAUNCH: STS-51-A (Discovery), LC39A, KSC – 5 person crew, retrieved Palapa-2 and Westar-6; deployed Syncom-41, Anik-D2. Third and last flight using the MMU – MILESTONE: 40 years ago. Crew: Frederick Hauck, David Walker, Joseph Allen, Anna Fisher, Dale Gardner
Military and Classified Programs:
1965 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, GD Atlas SLV-3/Lockheed Agena D, SLC4E, VAFB
1966 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Corona 113, Thorad SLV-2G/Lockheed Agena D, SLC1W, VAFB
1991 – LAUNCH: USA 72, 74, 76, 77, MM Titan IVA(403), SLC4E, VAFB
1997 – LAUNCH: USA 136, LM Titan TIVA (401)/Centaur, LC41, CCAFS
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1961 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A2, SSBN608, ETR
1975 – LAUNCH (2): Lockheed Poseidon C3, SSBN635, ETR
1977 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A3, LC29B, CCAFS
1979 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A3, LC29A, CCAFS – MILESTONE: 45 years ago
1981 – LAUNCH (2): MM Pershing 1A, Fort Bliss, Texas
2015 – LAUNCH (2): LM Trident D-5, SSBN737, WTR
Other:
NONE
The photo today is the TIVA (401)/Centaur (Titan IVA-17) in 1997 on the pad before a classified launch. This was one of the three launches that were part of the “hat trick” in late 1997, with three successful launches in 24 days(TIVB-33 with the Cassini mission at the Cape; classified launches on TIVA-18 at VAFB and TIVA-17 at the Cape). I also included a photo of the “hat trick” patch that we were able to get on the Titan program. We had a huge shindig at Wings Over the Rockies to celebrate three launches in 24 days. The photo was retrieved from the National Archives with a status of released to the public for general usage. The photo of the patch is Copyright © 2023 Barbara Sande.
