The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1962, the latest event was in 2009
One milestone event (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
NONE
Military and Classified Programs:
1962 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Corona 58, Thor/Lockheed Agena D, SLC1E, VAFB
1966 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, MM Titan IIIB, SLC4W, VAFB
1971 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, Thorad SLV-2G/Lockheed Agena D, SLC1W, VAFB
1975 – LAUNCH: IMEWS-5, MM Titan IIIC, LC40, CCAFS
1978 – LAUNCH: DSCS II-11, 12, MM Titan IIIC, LC40, CCAFS
2006 – LAUNCH: USA-193, ULA Delta 7920-10C, SLC2W, VAFB – first ULA launch
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
2009 – LAUNCH: WISE, ULA Delta 7320-10C, SLC2W, VAFB – Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer – MILESTONE: 15 years ago
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
NONE
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
NONE
Other:
NONE
The photo today is of the ULA Delta 7320-10C vehicle on the pad at VAFB before launch in 2009 . WISE was a full-sky survey spacecraft in the infrared region. WISE was put into hibernation in 2011 and then revived in 2013 to become the NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Infrared Survey Explorer) mission, which is still operational. LM built the cryostat systems to cool the telescope.
The photo was found on Wikipedia with the following caption:
A United Launch Alliance Delta II (Delta 347) rocket with NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, satellite sits poised for launch at Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Delta II is set for liftoff at 6:09 a.m. PST Dec. 14. WISE will scan the entire sky in infrared light, picking up the glow of hundreds of millions of objects and producing millions of images. Photo Credit: United Launch Alliance/Bill Hartenstein. Multiple sources, including NASA, acknowledge that the photo is public domain.