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 1997
No milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight
NONE
Military and Classified Programs
1968 – LAUNCH: Classified Mission, Thor SLV-2A/Lockheed Agenda D, SLC2W, VAFB
1997 – LAUNCH FAILURE (GEM Motor): LM GPSIIR-1 (42), Delta 7925, LC17B, CCAFS – First launch of GPSIIR program
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite Programs
NONE
Commercial Programs
1972 – LAUNCH: RCA Satcom 4, Delta 3910/PAM, LC17B, CCAFS
Test, ICBM, FBM programs
1962 – LAUNCH: GD Atlas D, 576-B2, VAFB
1966 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A3, SSBN-641, ETR
1978 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Trident C-4, LC25C, CCAFS
1982 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Trident C-4, SSBN-726, ETR
Other
1963 – NASA and DoD management responsibilities at Cape Canaveral established
The photo today is of a GEM-40 solid rocket motor used on Delta II (similar to the one that failed) and an artist’s conception of what the GPSIIR spacecraft looks like in space (this one didn’t make it). This was the first GPSIIR generation satellite build by LM at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Photo credit: NASA. Image Credit: US National Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing. Unfortunately, I could not find a photo of the actual failure that is properly vetted to be in the public domain.
