CHRONOLOGY – AUGUST 2009

3/23/06

80 Years Ago - 1929

Aug. 8-29: Round-the-world flight by the Graf Zeppelin.

55 Years Ago - 1954

Aug. 1: Convair XFY-1 Pogo makes first vertical take-off and landing.

Test pilot comment: "It's awful hard to fly an airplane looking over your shoulder."

Aug. 5: Bell X-2, No. 1, first glide flight, piloted by Lt. Col. Frank K. Everest, Edwards AFB, CA.

50 Years Ago - 1959

Aug. 7: Explorer 6 launched, 10:23 a.m., EDT, ESMC. Returned first crude TV images of earth from space.

Aug. 13: Discoverer 5 launched, 14:57 EDT, WSMC.

Aug. 19: Discoverer 6 launched, 15:26 EDT, WSMC.

45 Years Ago - 1964

Aug. 19: Syncom 3 launched, 8:15 a.m., EDT, ESMC.

Aug. 28: Nimbus 1 launched, first nighttime cloud-cover images returned by satellite, 4:57 a.m., EDT, WSMC.

40 Years Ago - 1969

Aug. 7: Zond 7 Launch (Soviet Circumlunar Mission), 23:48 UT, Baikonur, USSR. Obtained color photography of the Earth and the Moon from varying distances after lunar flyby. Reentered the earth's atmosphere on August 14, 1969, and achieved a soft landing in a preset region south of Kustanai.

Aug. 9: Orbiting Solar Observatory (OS0 6) launched, 3:52 a.m., EDT, WSMC.

Aug. 12: Applications Technology Satellite (ATS 5) launched, 7:0l a.m., EDT, ESMC.

35 Years Ago - 1974

Aug. 30: ANS-1 (Netherlands Astronomical Satellite) launched, 7:08 a.m., PDT, WSMC.

30 Years Ago - 1979

Aug. 10: Westar 3 launched, 8:20 p.m., EDT, WSMC.

25 Years Ago – 1984

Aug. 16: Launch of three satellites comprising Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers (AMPTE) mission, 10:47 a.m., EDT, ESMC.

Aug. 30: STS-41D launched, 8:42 a.m. EDT from KSC. Astronauts Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr., Michael L. Coats, Judith A. Resnik, Steven A. Hawley, Richard M. Mullane, and Charles D. Walker. Deployment of SBS-D, Syncom IV-2, and Telstar 3-C satellites. Landed September 5 at 8:38 a.m. PDT, Edwards Air Force Base. Mission duration: 6 days,56 minutes.

20 Years Ago - 1989

Aug. 8: STS-28 launched, 8:37 a.m., EDT, from KSC. Astronauts Brewster Shaw, Richard Richards, James Adamson, David Leestma, and Mark Brown. A Department of

Defense mission. Landed August 13 at 6:37 a.m. PDT, Edwards Air Force Base. Mission duration: 5 days, 1 hour.

Aug. 18 - GPS (NavStar) launched by Delta 11, 1:58 a.m., EDT, ESMC. Also known as USA-42.