The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1960, the latest event was in 2002.
Four milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
2002 – LAUNCH: STS-102 (Discovery), LC39B, KSC – 7 person crew, ISS modules, crew exchange. Crew: Core – James Weatherbee, James Kelly, Andrew Thomas (Australia), Paul Richards. To ISS Expedition 2: Yuri Yusachev (Russia), James Voss, Susan Helms. From ISS Expedition 1: William Shepherd, Yuri Gridzenko (Russia), Sergei Krikalev (Russia).
Military and Classified Programs:
1991 – LAUNCH: USA 69, Titan IVA(403), SLC4E, VAFB – First Titan IV at VAFB
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
2002 – LAUNCH: TDRS 9, LM Atlas IIA, LC36A, CCAFS
Commercial Programs:
1997 – LAUNCH: Tempo2, LM Atlas IIA, LC36A, CCAFS – TV service, now part of Direct TV
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1960 – LAUNCH: GD Atlas D, LC11, CCAFS – first Atlas using all-inertial guidance system – MILESTONE: 65 years ago
1960 – LAUNCH FAILURE: Martin Titan I, LC16, CCAFS – MILESTONE: 65 years ago
1990 – LAUNCH: MM Peacekeeper, LF05, VAFB – MILESTONE: 35 years ago
1994 – LAUNCH: MM Peacekeeper, LF05, VAFB
2000 – LAUNCH: LM Peacekeeper, LF05, VAFB – MILESTONE: 25 years ago
Other:
NONE
The photos today are from the STS-102 mission in 2002 that include the launch, the crews and the Leonardo multipurpose module. James Voss and Susan Helms still hold the record for the longest US spacewalk in history, at 8 hours 56 minutes (the first EVA of the mission); two Chinese astronauts exceeded their time in December 2024. Photo Credits: NASA.
