The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1955, the latest event was in 2002
Three milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1985 – LANDING: STS-51-J (Atlantis), Edwards AFB – MILESTONE: 40 years ago
2002 – LAUNCH: STS-112 (Atlantis), LC39B, KSC – 6 person crew, ISS assembly. Crew: Jeffrey Ashby, Pamela Melroy, David Wolf, Sandra Magnus, Piers Sellers,
Fyodor Yurchihin (RKA – Russia).
Military and Classified Programs:
1978 – LAUNCH: GPS SVN03, GD Atlas F/SVS, SLC3E, VAFB
1999 – LAUNCH: LM GPS IIR-3 (SVN 046), Delta 7925-9.5, LC17A, CCAFS
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
1955 – Martin Company awarded the contract for development of the Vanguard launch vehicle – MILESTONE: 70 years ago
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1960 – LAUNCH: Martin Titan I, LC20, CCAFS – MILESTONE: 65 years ago
1961 – LAUNCH: Martin Titan I, LC19, CCAFS
1963 – LAUNCH FAILURE: GD Atlas D, 576-B3, VAFB
1988 – LAUNCH (2): MM Pershing 1A, Fort Bliss, Texas
Other:
NONE
The photos today are from the STS-112 mission in 2002; they include the launch, the crew and the S1 Truss for ISS photographed in the shuttle cargo bay. Photo Credits: NASA.
During ascent, there was External Tank foam debris observed that impinged on one of the Solid Rocket Boosters. Approvals were obtained after the mission to continue to fly with debris events. One more mission (STS-113) flew before the ill-fated STS-107 (Columbia) on February 1, 2003, which was lost during re-entry because of debris damage. Atlantis did not fly again until 2006.
