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 1990
Two milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1961 – North American Aviation is awarded the Apollo Prime Contract. Martin Company performed better in total program and technical scores and it was announced on 11/27/61 that they had been awarded the contract. This decision was reversed on 11/28/61 at the highest levels of NASA.
1963 – Kennedy Space Center is named after the President who was assassinated 6 days earlier
1983- LAUNCH: STS-9 (Columbia), LC39A, KSC – 6 person crew, Spacelab1. Crew: John Young, Brewster Shaw, Owen Garriott, Robert Parker, Ulf Merbold (ESA – Germany), Byron Lichtenberg
1989 – LANDING: STS-33 (Discovery), Edwards AFB – MILESTONE: 35 years ago
Military and Classified Programs:
1991 – LAUNCH: GE DMSP S-12, GD Atlas E, SLC3W, VAFB
1992 – LAUNCH: USA-86, MM Titan IVA (404), SLC4E, VAFB
1993 – LAUNCH: MM(GE) DSCS-III B10, GD Atlas II, LC36A, CCAFS
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
1964 – LAUNCH: Mariner 4, GD Atlas/Lockheed Agena D, LC12, CCAFS – first close-up photos of Mars – MILESTONE: 60 years ago
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1966 – LAUNCH(2): Lockheed Polaris A3, SSBN655, ETR
1990 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Trident D-5, SSBN736, ETR
Other:
NONE
The photos today are of the STS-9 launch, crew, and Shuttle bay in orbit; this was the first usage of the Spacehab module. It was Commander John Young’s sixth and final spaceflight; Skylab 3 astronaut Owen Garriott was on his second and last spaceflight. Photo Credits: NASA.
