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On this day – May 22

Posted on May 22, 2025May 12, 2025 By Barb Sande

The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.

The earliest event was in 1965, the latest event was in 2014

Four milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)

Human Spaceflight:

1965 – LAUNCH: FIRE- 2, GD Atlas D Antares-2, LC12, CCAFS – subscale Apollo capsule heat shield test – MILESTONE: 60 years ago

1975 – MM X-24B flight 51, Dryden Lake – Pilot John Manke – MILESTONE: 50 years ago

Military and Classified Programs:

1967 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, GD Atlas SLV-3/Lockheed Agena D, SLC4E, VAFB

1999 – LAUNCH: USA-144, LM Titan IVB(404), SLC4E, VAFB 

2014 – LAUNCH: USA-252, ULA Atlas V 401, LC41, CCAFS

Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:

NONE

Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:

NONE

Commercial Programs:

1975 – LAUNCH: Intelsat 4 F1, GD Atlas SLV-3D/Centaur, LC36A, CCAFS – MILESTONE: 50 years ago

Test, ICBM, FBM programs:

1970 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A3, SSBN625, ETR – MILESTONE: 55 years ago

Other:

NONE

The photo today is from the FIRE-2 test that was launched by Atlas D/Antares-2 in 1965 to test the heat shield material intended for launch on the Apollo Command module.  Here’s the story from Wikipedia:

During the second trial, a propelled instrumented probe, referred to as a “flying thermometer,” was launched into a ballistic trajectory over 805 km high by an Atlas D booster (missile 264D).As the spacecraft initiated its descent after 26 minutes of flight, the Antares rocket accelerated its fall. The probe entered the atmosphere at a velocity of 40,877 km per hour, generating temperatures of approximately 11,206 K.Ground stations received data on heating throughout the descent. Thirty-two minutes post-launch, and a mere six minutes after the Antares ignition, the device impacted in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 8,256 km southeast of the Cape.

Photo is shared from a NASA report on the test and was uploaded to Wikipedia by VMI-Dave. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Internationallicense.

You are free:

  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
May 22 – FIRE-2 test of Apollo command module ablative material. Photo from NASA archives, uploaded to public domain on Wikipedia (see notes).
On This Day

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