The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1959, the latest was in 2015
Three milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1959 – Saturn launch vehicle system study commissioned by ARPA recommends GD Atlas and MM Titan for upper stage systems
1969 – SPLASHDOWN: Apollo 9 mission, North Atlantic, USS Guadalcanal
1989 – LAUNCH: STS-29 (Discovery), LC39B, KSC – 5 person crew, deployed TDRS-4 Crew: Michael Coats, John Blaha, Robert Springer, James Buchli, James Bagian.
Military and Classified Programs:
1968 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, MM Titan TIIIB, SLC4W, VAFB
1977 – LAUNCH: Classified mission, MM Titan 24B, SLC4W, VAFB
2008 – LAUNCH: USA-200, ULA Atlas V 411, SLC3E, VAFB
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
1985 – LAUNCH: Geosat, GD Atlas E/OIS, SLC3W, VAFB – MILESTONE: 40 years ago
2015 – LAUNCH: MMS 1-4, ULA Atlas V 421, LC41, CCAFS – NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale Missions – MILESTONE: 10 years ago
Commercial Programs:
2004 – LAUNCH: MBSAT, LM Atlas 3A, LC37B, CCAFS (Mobile Broadcasting, Japan and South Korea)
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1964 – LAUNCH: MM Titan II, 395-C, VAFB – last Titan II test launch at VAFB
1970 – LAUNCH: Atlas F/Trident, 576-A3, VAFB – MILESTONE: 55 years ago
1982 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Trident C-4, SSBN726, ETR
Other:
NONE
The photo today is the launch of the four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft on Atlas V 421 in 2015 that are studying the magnetosphere of Earth in a tetra formation. The photo was found on the ULA Flickr photo site and it has the following caption:
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission for NASA lifts off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on March 12, 2015. MMS is a NASA Solar Terrestrial Probes mission consisting of four identical science observatories whose objective is to understand the microphysics of magnetic reconnection. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance. Copyright ©ULA All Rights Reserved. This photo is being used for non-commercial and historical purposes for retirees of LM and ULA.
