CHRONOLOGY AUGUST 2008

3/21/06

 

                75 Years Ago - 1933

Aug 17: First Russian liquid fueled rocket successfully fired, weight: 44 pounds, Russia.

 

                65 Years Ago - 1943

Aug 17-18: Royal Air Force attacked Peenemunde Rocket Research Center.

 

55 Years Ago - 1953

Aug 3: Dr. S. Fred Singer unveiled his proposal for Project MOUSE (Minimum Orbital Unmanned Satellite Experiment) at the Fourth International Congress on Astronautics, Zurich, Switzerland.

Aug 20 - Redstone Number 1 launched from Cape Canaveral, 9:35 a.m., EST.

 

                50 Years Ago - 1958

Aug 2: First full-powered flight of Atlas ICBM using sustainer and booster engine, ESMC.

Aug 7: First launch of Bomarc interceptor missile, ESMC.

Aug 24: Explorer 5 launched, 2:17 a.m., EDT, ESMC. Orbit not achieved because of collision of parts of booster and satellite.

 

                45 Years Ago – 1963

Aug 1: Mariner 2 completed first orbit of  the sun.

Aug 16: First air tow of a lifting body, M2-F1, Milton 0. Thompson, Dryden Flight Rsearch Facility, CA.

Aug 22: Highest X-15 flight (unofficial), 354,200 feet (67 + miles), Joseph A. Walker, pilot , DFRF.

 

Page 2

 

                40 Years Ago - 1968

Aug 8: Explorer 39/40 launched, 4:12 p.m., EDT, WSMC.

Aug 10: ATS 4 launched, 6:33:02 p.m., EDT, ESMC.

Aug 16: ESSA 7 launched, 7:24 a.m., EDT, WSMC.

 

35 Years Ago - 1973

Aug 1: First X-24B glide flight, John A. Manke pilot, DFRF.

Aug 5: Mars 6 launched, 1746 UT, Baikonur, USSR.

Aug 9: Mars 7 launched, 1701 UT, Baikonur, USSR.

Aug 23: Intelsat IV F-7 launched, 6:57 p.m., EDT, ESMC.

 

30 Years Ago - 1978

Aug 12: ISEE 3 launched, 11:12 a.m., EDT, ESMC.

 

                25 Years Ago - 1983

Aug 30: STS-8 (Challenger) launched, 2:30 a.m., EDT, KSC. Astronauts Truly, Brandenstein,Gardner, Bluford, and Thornton. Insat 1B launched. Shuttle landed Sep 5. Flight duration: 6 days, 1 hour, 8 minutes. First African-American astronaut in space: Guion Bluford, First shuttle launch in the dark and first shuttle landing in the dark.

 

20 Years Ago - 1988

Aug 25: SOOS 4A & B (Dual Navy navigation satellites) launched by NASA Scout, 3:05 a.m., EDT, WSMC.

 

10 Years Ago – 1998

Aug 6: NASA's remotely piloted Pathfinder-Plus solar-powered aircraft flew to a record altitude of 80,285 feet above Kaua'i in the Hawaiian Islands.

Aug 13: Soyuz TM-28 with crew of three docked with Mir space station using manual backup because of prior failure of one of two automatic systems. Launched from Baikonur at 09:43 UT.

 

5 Years Ago – 2003

Aug 25: SIRTF (Space InfraRed Telescope Facility), a NASA astronomy satellite  was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 05:35 UT on 25 August 2003. It is the fourth member of NASA's Great Observatories, the others being the Hubble Telescope, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (decommissioned in June 2000), and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.