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 2010
One milestone event (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1969 – NASA Astronaut Group 7 selected – Karol Bobko, Robert Crippen, Gordon Fullerton, Henry Hartsfield, Robert Overmyer, Donald Peterson, Richard Truly (all from the just-canceled MOL program)
Military and Classified Programs:
1964 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, GD Atlas SLV-3/Lockheed Agena D, SLC4E, VAFB
1974 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, MM Titan 24B, SLC4W, VAFB
2010 – LAUNCH: LM AEHF-1, ULA Atlas V 531, LC41, CCAFS – AEHF-1 engine anomaly (proper orbit achieved) – MILESTONE: 15 years ago
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
2007 – LAUNCH: Lockheed BSAT-3A (also Spaceway 3), Ariane 5ECA, ELA3, Kourou, French Guiana
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1959 – LAUNCH FAILURE: Martin Titan I, LC19, CCAFS
1959 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris AX, LC25B, CCAFS
1968 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A2E, SSBN618, ETR
Other:
NONE
The photo today is the launch of the AEHF-1 spacecraft on Atlas V 531. The photo was published on Wikipedia with the following description:
The 45th Space Wing successfully launched the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-1) satellite onboard an Atlas V launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral launch pad 41 on 14 August 2010 at 7:07 a.m. Photo attributed to the USAF and released in a USAF press release to public domain.
Here’s the story about the engine anomaly (also from Wikipedia):
The satellite was intended to maneuver from the transfer orbit into which it was launched to its operational geosynchronous orbit by means of a liquid apogee engine (LAE) and several Hall-effect thrusters, a process which normally takes 105 days.However, the satellite’s Liquid Apogee Engine malfunctioned shortly after ignition on both its first burn on 15 August 2010 and a second attempt on 17 August 2010, and it was declared inoperable.
To solve the problem, the perigee altitude was raised to 4,700 km (2,900 mi) using twelve firings of the smaller Reaction Engine Assembly thrusters, originally intended for attitude control during LAE maneuvers. From this altitude, the solar arrays were deployed and the orbit was raised toward the operational orbit over the course of nine months using the 0.27 Newton Hall effect thruster, a form of electric propulsion, which is highly efficient, but produces very low thrust and is therefore very slow.
The problem with the liquid apogee engine was later blamed on a piece of cloth accidentally left in a fuel line leading up to the engine while the line was taken apart for repair during the manufacture of the satellite. The cloth was likely placed in the line to prevent impurities from entering the fuel line and did not get removed when the line was put back together.
