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 1998
Four milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1965 – LAUNCH: Gemini VII, MM Titan II/GLV, LC19, CCAFS – Frank Borman, Jim Lovell – first rendezvous with another manned spacecraft, two-week mission
1998 – LAUNCH: STS-88 (Endeavour), LC39A, KSC – 6 person crew, ISS Unity module. Crew: Robert Cabana, Frederick Sturckow, Jerry Ross, Nancy Currie, James Newman, Sergei Krikalev (RKA – Russia). First shuttle mission to ISS.
Military and Classified Programs:
1962 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Corona 57, Thor/Lockheed Agena D, SLC2W, VAFB
1964 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, GD Atlas SLV-3/Lockheed Agena D, SLC4E, VAFB – MILESTONE: 60 years ago
1968 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, MM Titan IIIB, SLC4W, VAFB
1969 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Corona 136, Thorad SLV-2H/Lockheed Agena D, SLC3W, VAFB
1971 – LAUNCH FAILURE: Classified mission, GD Atlas SLV-3A/Lockheed Agena D, LC13, CCAFS – stage I
1975 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, MM Titan IIID, SLC4E, VAFB
1984 – LAUNCH: USA-6, MM Titan 34D, SLC4E, VAFB – MILESTONE: 40 years ago
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1960 – LAUNCH: Martin Titan I, OSTF, VAFB
1963 – 532nd squadron of MM Titan II ICBMs turned over to SAC, McConnell AFB, Kansas
1964 – LAUNCH: GD Atlas D, 576-A3, VAFB – MILESTONE: 60 years ago
1975 – LAUNCH: MM Titan II 395-C, VAFB
1984 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Trident C-4, SSBN730, ETR – MILESTONE: 40 years ago
1989 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Trident D-5, SSBN734, ETR – MILESTONE: 35 years ago
Other:
NONE
The photos today are from two missions.
First there are photos of the Gemini VII launch and crew and a view on-orbit. Frank Borman and Jim Lovell spent two weeks in orbit on this mission and rendezvoused with Gemini VI-A (Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra), which launched a few days later (a good story coming on that one). Photo Credits: NASA.
Second, there are photos from the STS-88 mission in 1998. The photos include the launch, the crew and a view of ISS showing the installed Unity module. This was the first mission to the fledging International Space Station (no crew on-board ISS yet). Photo Credits: NASA.
