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 2020
Two 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
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
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
2020 – OSIRIS-REx successfully touches down and retrieves sample on asteroid Bennu
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 – MILESTONE: 60 years ago
1969 – LAUNCH (7): Lockheed Polaris A2, SSBN609, ETR – MILESTONE: 55 years ago
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
