CHRONOLOGY – DECEMBER 2009

3/23/06

60 Years Ago - 1949

Dec 2: First firing of Aerobee research rocket, Holloman,

AFB, NM.

55 Years Ago - 1954

Dec 10: Col. John P. Stapp, USAF, attained speed of 632

mph on rocket sled sustaining greatest g-forces endured by man in

recorded deceleration tests. Holloman AFB, NM.

During Dec - "Man In Space" produced by Walt Disney.

50 Years Ago – 1959

Dec 4: Little Joe 2 launched, with rhesus monkey "Sam", WFF.

45 Years Ago - 1964

Dec 8: Little Joe II, Number 5, Apollo development flight,

8:00 a.m., MST, WSMR.

CHRONOLOGY – DECEMBER 2004 Page 2

35 Years Ago – 1974

Dec 2: Pioneer 11 Jupiter flyby.

Dec 2: Soyuz 16 launched, Cosmonauts Filipchenko, and

Rukavishnikov, 0940 UT, Baikonur, USSR.

Dec 10: Helios 1 launched, 2:11 a.m., EST, ESMC.

Dec 18: Symphonie 1 launched, 9:30 p.m., EST, ESMC.

Dec 26: Salyut 4 launched, 0415 UT, Baikonur, USSR.

30 Years Ago – 1979

Dec 6: RCA 3 launched, 8:35 p.m., EST, ESMC, satellite lost

Dec 10: during firing of Apogee Kick Motor.

Dec 24: First Ariane 1 Launch.

25 Years Ago - 1984

Dec 12: NOAA 9 launched, 5:42 a.m., EST, WSMC.

Dec 15: Vega 1 Launch at 09:16:24 UTC (Soviet Venus/Comet Halley Mission -- also known as Venera-Halley 1) Estimated flyby distance of 10,000 km.

Dec 21: Vega 2 Launch at 09:13:52 UTC (Soviet Venus/Comet Halley Mission – also known as Venera-Halley 2) Estimated flyby distance of 3,000 km.

Dec 27: Discovery in Antarctica of ALH 84001, the famous Mars meteorite that caused all of the excitement in 1996 about life possibly existing on Mars in the distant past.

CHRONOLOGY – DECEMBER 2004 Page 3

20 Years Ago - 1989

Dec 11: GPS, fifth in series of Block II spacecraft launched

from ESMC, at 1:10 p.m., EST.

10 Years Ago – 1999

Dec 10: XMM (X-ray Multimirror Mission) an astronomy spacecraft of the European Space Agency (ESA) launched by a 746 tonne Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 14:32 UT. It is the first launch of a functional spacecraft by the Ariane 5.

Dec 18: Terra is an American (jointly with Japan, and Canada) weather spacecraft that was launched by an Atlas 2AS rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 19:00 UT. The 4,864 kg spacecraft carried an array of instruments to monitor clouds, aerosals, and solar radiation balance.

Dec 19: STS-103 (Space Shuttle Discovery) launched 7:50 p.m. EST, KSC. Astronauts Curtis L. Brown, Scott J. Kelly, Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale, John M. Grunsfeld, Claude Nicollier, and Jean-Francois Clervoy. Hubble Servicing Mission 3. The first Space Shuttle mission to fly on Christmas day. Landed December 27, 1999 at 7:01 p.m. EST, KSC. Mission duration: 7 days, 23 hours, 11 minutes.

Dec 21: ACRIMSAT launched by a Taurus rocket from Vandenberg AFB to ascertain the extent of solar radiation variability.