The events on this day in history for our heritage companies are noted below.
The earliest event was in 1958, the latest event was in 2009
Two milestone events (5 to 65+ years ago)
Human Spaceflight:
1982 – LAUNCH: STS-4 (Columbia), LC39A, KSC – 2 person crew (Ken Mattingly, Henry Hartsfield), test launch, science experiments
1995 – LAUNCH: STS-71 (Atlantis), LC39A, KSC – 7 person crew up (8 down), Spacelab/Mir. Crew: Robert Gibson, Charles Precourt, Ellen Baker, Gregory Harbaugh, Bonnie Dunbar. To Mir Expedition 19 – Anatoly Solovyev (RKA – Russia), Nikolai Burdin (RKA – Russia). From Mir Expedition 18 – Gennaly Strekalov (RKA – Russia), Vladimir Dezhurov (RKA – Russia), Norman Thagard.
Military and Classified Programs:
1963 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Corona 66, Thor SLV-2A/Lockheed Agena D, SLC2W, VAFB
1977- LAUNCH: Classified mission, MM Titan IIID, SLC4E, VAFB
Exploration and Interplanetary Programs:
NONE
Earth-Monitoring and Civil Weather Satellite programs:
1978 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Seasat-1, GD Atlas F/Lockheed Agena D, SLC3W, VAFB – Seasat-1 ceased functioning after 99 days on orbit
1979 – LAUNCH: RCA NOAA 6 (A), GD Atlas F, SLC3W, VAFB – MILESTONE: 45 years ago
2009 – LAUNCH: GOES 14, ULA Delta 4M+(4,2), LC37B, CCAFS – MILESTONE: 15 years ago
Commercial Programs:
NONE
Test, ICBM, FBM programs:
1958 – LAUNCH FAILURE: Martin Bold Orion, B-47 (aircraft), CCAFS – FAILURE
1977 – LAUNCH: Lockheed Trident C4, LC25C, CCAFS
1980 – LAUNCH (4): Lockheed Trident C4, SSBN658, ETR
Other:
NONE
The photos today are from the STS-4 mission, the last test launch of the first shuttle Columbia in 1982. They include the launch, the crew (Henry Hartsfield and Ken Mattingly) and an orbital experiment with the Induced Environment Contaminant Monitor. I witnessed this launch in person from the NASA Causeway as I had to travel to the Cape with other colleagues to support testing on the first Titan 34D vehicle. Photo Credits: NASA.
