The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1959, the latest event was in 2006
Two milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1972 – LANDING: Apollo 16 lands on the moon (Orion Lunar Module – Young and Duke)
1994 – LANDING: STS-59 (Endeavour), Edwards AFB
2010 – LANDING: STS-110 (Discovery), KSC – MILESTONE: 15 years ago
Military and Classified Programs:
1967 – LAUNCH: MM PRIME 3, GD Atlas SLV-3, SLC3W, VAFB
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
1967 – LAUNCH: RCA ESSA-5, Thor Delta E, SLC2E, VAFB
2004 – LAUNCH: LM Gravity Probe-B, Delta 7920-10C, SLC2W, VAFB
Commercial Programs:
2006 – LAUNCH: LM Astra 1KR, LM Atlas V 411, LC41, CCAFS
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1959 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris AX, LC25A, CCAFS
1964 – LAUNCH (2): Lockheed Polaris A2, SSBN625, ETR
1965 – Final GD Atlas F departs 551st Strategic Missile Squadron for storage, Lincoln AFB, Nebraska – MILESTONE: 60 years ago
1966 – LAUNCH MM Titan II, 395-B, VAFB – Final Titan II operational test
1976 – LAUNCH (2): Lockheed Poseidon C3, SSBN656, ETR
Other:
NONE
Today’s photos are from two missions. First, there are photos from the Apollo 16 mission, which landed on the moon on this day in 1972. Apollo 16 landed in the Descartes Highlands region of the moon after some delays because of an oscillation problem in the Command/Service module SPS engine. Photo Credits: NASA.
Second, there is a photo of the PRIME 3 vehicle, which launched successfully on this day in 1967 and is now on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. PRIME was a small lifting body precursor to the X-24A & B. PRIME stands for Precision Reentry Including Manuevering (re)Entry. Photo Credit: Found on Wikipedia, no author identified, attributed to government agency (NMUSAF).
Specifications of PRIME also known as the X-23A (from Wikipedia):
General characteristics
- Length: 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
- Wingspan: 3 ft 10 in (1.17 m)
- Height: 2 ft 10 in (0.86 m)
- Gross weight: 894 lb (406 kg)
- Powerplant: Nitrogen gas reaction control thrusters
Performance
- Maximum speed: 14,388 kn (16,557 mph, 26,647 km/h)
- Maximum speed: Mach 25
- Hypersonic L/D Ratio: 1:1
