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On this day – July 21

Posted on July 21, 2025July 4, 2025 By Barb Sande

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 2011

No milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)

Human Spaceflight:

1961 – LAUNCH: Mercury MR (Mercury Redstone) 4, LC5, CCAFS – Second manned Mercury flight (sub-orbital), Gus Grissom – Significant space event 

1962 – Advanced Saturn launch complex to be built on 80,000 acres northwest of CCAFS 

1966 – SPLASHDOWN: Gemini X  – Mid Atlantic, USS Guadalcanal 

2011 – LANDING: STS-135, KSC – Last shuttle mission

Military and Classified Programs:

1961- LAUNCH FAILURE: Lockheed Discoverer 27, Thor/Lockheed Agena B, SLC1W, VAFB

1962 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Corona 46 , Thor/Lockheed Agena B, SLC1W, VAFB

Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:

NONE

Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:

NONE

Commercial Programs:

NONE

Test, ICBM, FBM programs:

1959 – LAUNCH: GD Atlas C, LC12, CCAFS

1961 – LAUNCH: Martin Titan I, LC20, CCAFS

1962 – LAUNCH (2): Lockheed Polaris A2, SSBN611, ETR

2004 – LAUNCH: LM Peacekeeper, LF02, VAFB

Other:

NONE

The photos today are from two events.  

First, on this day there was the second American launched into space in 1961 on the Mercury-Redstone 4 mission.  Photos from that mission include the launch and a photo of astronaut Gus Grissom.  Photo Credits: NASA.

Second, the last shuttle flight landed on this day in 2011.  The photos include the landing and a special photo with the crews of STS-1 and STS-135.  The crew members from STS-1 were John Young and Bob Crippen; the crew members from STS-135 were Christopher Ferguson, Doug Hurley, Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim. Photo Credits: NASA.

July 21 – Launch of MR-4 with Gus Grissom. Photo Credit: NASA.
July 21 – Mercury Astronaut Gus Grissom (MR-4). Photo Credit: NASA.
July 21 – Landing of the last shuttle mission STS-135. Photo Credit: NASA.
Crews of STS-1 and STS-135 (see text for crew names). Photo Credit: NASA.
On This Day

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