CHRONOLOGY – MARCH 2009

3/23/06

          

85 Years Ago – 1924

Mar 1: Donald K. (Deke) Slayton born, Sparta, WI.

 

75 Years Ago - 1934

Mar 9: Yuri Gagarin born, Gzhast, Rayon, Smolsensk Oblast, USSR.

 

50 Years Ago – 1959

Mar 3: Pioneer 4 [Juno II AM-14] launched, 12:10 a.m., EST, ESMC. First U.S. sun-orbiter, a US-IGY space probe.

Mar 10: First captive flight of X-15, DFRF, CA.

 

40 Years Ago – 1969

Mar 3-13: Apollo 9 launched, 11:00 a.m., EST, KSC, Astronauts McDivitt, Scott, and Schweickart, into earth orbit. First crew assisted flight test of lunar module.

First launch of complete Apollo configuration [Saturn V vehicle, CSM, and LM].

First docking in space of CSM and LM.

First firing of LM ascent and descent engines in space with astronauts aboard.

First separation, rendezvous & redocking of two astronaut occupied spacecraft.

First EVA by an astronaut completely free of spaceship life support equipment [Schweickart, LM Pilot]. 

First mission in which the use of names for spacecraft was again authorized.

First test of Portable Life Support System in space.

Mar 26: Meteor 1 launched, 1229 UT, Plesetsk, USSR.

Mar 27: Mariner 7 launched, 5:22 p.m., EST, ESMC.

 

35 Years Ago - 1974

Mar 5: First X-24B supersonic flight, John A. Manke pilot, DFRF, CA.

Mar 8: Miranda (UK X-4) launched, 10:22 p.m., EDT, WSMC.

Mar 29: Mariner 10, First Mercury Flyby.

 

30 Years Ago - 1979

Mar 5: Voyager 1 passes Jupiter, at 278,000 km, returns photos and data.

Mar 8: Shuttle "Columbia" delivered to NASA, EAFB, CA from Palmdale, CA.

Mar 24: First time a Space Shuttle was transported to its launching base when Columbia arrived at Kennedy Space Center.

 

25 Years Ago - 1984

Mar 1: Landsat 5 launched, 9:59 a.m., PST, WSMC. UOSAT-2 secondary payload.

 

20 Years Ago - 1989

Mar 13: STS-29 (Discovery) launched, 9:57 a.m., EST, KSC. Astronauts Michael Coats, John Blaha, James Bagian, James Buchli, and Robert Springer. Launched TDRS-4 same day. Landed EAFB, CA, Mar 18, at 9:36 a.m., EST. Mission time: 4 days, 23 hours, and 39 minutes.

 

15 Years Ago – 1994

Mar 4: STS-62 (Columbia) launched, 8:53 a.m. EST, KSC. Astronauts John H. Casper, Andrew M. Allen, Pierre J. Thuot, Charles D. Gemar, and Marsha S. Ivins. Carried United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-2) and Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST-2). Landed KSC, March 18 at 8:10 a.m. EST. Mission time: 13 days, 23 hours, and 17 minutes.

 

10 Years Ago – 1999

Mar 5: WIRE (Wide-field InfraRed Explorer), designed to measure infrared sources, was launched by a Pegasus-XL rocket released from a L-1011 cargo plane off the coast of Vandenberg AFB at 03:00 UT. Soon after launch the payload deployed prematurely and become inoperable.

Mar 28: Sealaunch Demo, a multinational, geosynchronous dummy "spacecraft" was launched at 01:30 UT from a 4,000 tonne floating platform, Odyssey (which was an oil drilling platform in the North Sea) on true-equatorial Pacific Ocean at 01:30 UT. The Sea Launch Company is jointly owned by private companies (Russian Energia 25%, American Boeing 40%, Norwegian Kvarner 20%, and Ukrainian Yuzhnoe/Yuzhmash 15%)

 

5 Years Ago – 2004

Mar 2: Rosetta, a European (ESA) cometary probe was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 07:17 UT on 02 March 2004. Sometime in 2014, it will orbit around a comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after releasing a lander named Philae.