The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1958, the latest event was in 1994
Three milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1985 – LAUNCH: STS-51-I (Discovery), LC39A, KSC – 5 person crew, deployed three satellites including RCA ASC-1 (American Satellite Company-1). Crew: Joe Engle, Richard Covey, James van Hoften, John Lounge, Williams Fisher – MILESTONE: 40 years ago
Military and Classified Programs:
1994 – LAUNCH: USA 105, MM Titan IVA(401)/Centaur, LC40, CCAFS
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
1962 – LAUNCH: Mariner 2, GD Atlas/Lockheed Agena B, LC12, CCAFS – first successful fly-by of another planet (Venus)
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
1970 – LAUNCH: RCA Transit O19, Scout A, SLC-5, VAFB – MILESTONE: 55 years ago
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1958 – LAUNCH: Lockheed X-17, Platform AVM1, Atlantic – Argus I
1959 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris AX, EAG-154, ETR
1962 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A2, LC25A, CCAFS
1964 – LAUNCH: GD Atlas E, OSTF-1, VAFB
1974 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Polaris A3, SSBN600, ETR
1980 – LAUNCH (3): Lockheed Trident C4, SSBN 655, ETR – MILESTONE: 45 years ago
1988 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Trident D5, LC46, CCAFS
Other:
NONE
The photos today are from three events.
First, there is the launch of Mariner 2 by Atlas/Agena B in 1962. This was the first successful fly-by of another planet (Venus). The fly-by occurred on December 14, 1962. Photo Credit: NASA (NASA historical photo archives).
The second set of photos are from the STS-51-I mission in 1985. They include the launch, the crew and the deployment of the ASC-1 spacecraft built by RCA. Photo Credits: NASA.
The third photo is the Titan IVA/Centaur on the pad before the launch of a classified mission (USA-105) in 1994. The photo was found on the National Archives site and was credited to the DoD and labeled for any usage.
