CHRONOLOGY – NOVEMBER 2008

3/21/06

 

             85 Years Ago – 1923

Nov.18: Alan Shepard born, East Dery, NH.

 

50 Years Ago -- 1958

Nov. 8: Pioneer 2 (second US-IGY space probe) launched. Failed. Reached altitude of 963 miles, 2:30 a.m., EST, ESMC.

Nov. 26: Project Mercury designation officially approved.

 

             45 Years Ago -- 1963

Nov. 11: First off-the-pad abort test of the Apollo launch escape system successfully tested at White Sands Missile Range, NM. – Apollo Boilerplate #6.

Nov. 22: First live transmission of TV signals across Pacific via communications satellite by Relay 1.  Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Nov. 26: Explorer 18 – launch of first interplanetary monitoring platform to observe interplanetary space at 02:24:00 UTC, ESMC.

Nov. 27: First successful use of liquid hydrogen as a rocket fuel in space. Atlas-Centaur stage entered orbit, after launch from ESMC, 2:03 p.m., EST.

Nov. 29: Cape Canaveral renamed Cape Kennedy by Executive Order Number 11129 signed by President Lyndon Johnson.


Chronology (continued)

 

40 Years Ago – 1968

Nov. 8: Pioneer 9/TETR 2 launched, 4:46 a.m., EST, ESMC.

Nov.10: Zond 6 Launch (Soviet Moon Orbit & Return)

 

            35 Years Ago – 1973

Nov. 1: First flight of supercritical wing on F-111, DFRF, CA.

Nov. 3: Mariner 10 -- (Venus & Mercury Flyby Mission) First spacecraft to explore the planet Mercury.

First spacecraft to use gravitational pull of one planet [Venus] to reach another [Mercury].

Nov. 6: NOAA 3 launched, 12:02 p.m., EST, WSMC.

Nov. 16: Skylab 4 launched, 9:0l p.m., EST, KSC. Last manned flight of Skylab program. Astronauts Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson, and William Pogue.

 

30 Years Ago -- 1978

Nov. 13: HEAO 2 launched, 12:24 a.m., EST, ESMC.

Nov. 18: NATO III C launched, 7:46 p.m., EST, ESMC.

 

25 Years Ago -- 1983

Nov. 28: STS 9 (Spacelab 1) launched, 11:00 a.m., EST, KSC. Fifth flight of space shuttle Columbia. Astronauts John Young, Brewster Shaw, Owen Garriott, Robert Parker, Byron Lichtenberg, and Ulf Merbold.

 

            20 Years Ago – 1988

Nov.15: Buran Launch (Soviet Space Shuttle).

 

10 Years Ago  -- 1998

Nov. 22: Galileo, Europa 18 Flyby.