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 2022
Three milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1995 – LAUNCH: STS-73 (Columbia), LC39B, KSC – 7 person crew, Microgravity lab. Crew: Kenneth Bowersox, Kent Rominger, Catherine Coleman, Michael Lopez-Alegria (Spain/USA), Kathryn Thornton, Fred Leslie, Albert Sacco – MILESTONE: 30 years ago
2022 – NASA orders three more Orion Spacecraft from LM
Military and Classified Programs:
1998 – LAUNCH: UHF F/O F9, LM Atlas IIA, LC36A, CCAFS
2000 – LAUNCH: LM DSCS 3 B-11m LM Atlas IIA, LC36A, CCAFS – MILESTONE: 25 years ago
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
2020 – OSIRIS-REx successfully touches down and retrieves sample on asteroid Bennu – MILESTONE: 5 years ago
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1958 – Martin Titan I missile A-2 exploded during captive tests at the Martin Denver facility
1964 – LAUNCH: MM Titan II, 395-C, VAFB
1969 – LAUNCH (7): Lockheed Polaris A2, SSBN609, ETR
Other:
NONE
The photos today are from the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) mission as it captured samples from Asteroid Bennu on this day in 2020. The images include a short video of the sampling and the successful securing of the sample (two photos). The samples returned in a sample return capsule on September 24, 2023, then OSIRIS-REx was renamed OSIRIS-APEX and has an extended mission to examine and orbit the asteroid Apophis, which is a potential Earth hazard, starting in 2029. Photo/Video credits: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/University of Arizona.
OSIRIS-REx returned over 120 grams of material, more than twice the requirement.
Here’s the caption information for the securing photos:
Images of a cylinder approaching and attaching to a spacecraft The left image shows the OSIRIS-REx collector head hovering over the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) after the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism arm moved it into the proper position for capture. The right image shows the collector head secured onto the capture ring in the SRC. Both images were captured by the StowCam camera. Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin
Here is an update on the sample results from Wikipedia:
The samples became available to the world’s scientists for research by request on 1 April 2024. On 15 May 2024, an overview of preliminary analytical studies on the returned samples was reported. In January 2025, NASA revealed that while the samples did not show evidence of life in an early solar system, their contents suggest that the conditions necessary for the emergence of life were likely widespread across it. These findings have prompted scientists to wonder why life did not emerge from Bennu. Further, they theorize that the amount of ammonia, which is a volatile substance, in the samples indicates that Bennu emerged from the colder, outer regions of space.
In January 2025, it was also reported that a wide range of carbon- and nitrogen-rich organic compounds have been identified in samples returned from Bennu, including 14 of the 20 amino acids that make up proteins in terrestrial organisms, as well as all four nucleobases (adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine) that are the essential building blocks of DNA and RNA. The samples contain a nearly equal mix of left-handed (L) and right-handed (D) amino acids, raising questions about whether asteroids like Bennu helped shape Earth’s biochemistry.
