CHRONOLOGY – OCTOBER 2008

3/21/06

50 Years Ago - 1958

Oct 1: First day of NASA, Washington, D.C.

Oct 4: Vandenberg AFB, CA dedicated.

Oct 7: Project Mercury formally organized, Washington, D.C.

Oct 11: Pioneer 1, attempted lunar probe, failed, reached 70,700 miles altitude, first NASA launch, ESMC, 4:42 a.m., EST. First observations of Earth’s and interplanetary magnetic field.

Oct 15: X-15 rollout, North American plant, Los Angeles, CA.

45 Years Ago - 1963

Oct 16: Vela 1 and 2 (USAF & AEC sponsored), first nuclear explosion detection satellites, ESMC.

40 Years Ago - 1968

Oct 11-22: Apollo 7, Astronauts Schirra, Eisele, Cunningham, first manned flight of Apollo Project, 11:02 a.m., EDT, KSC.

First test of Apollo Command/Service Module in Earth orbit operated by astronauts in flight.

First three member crew mission in the Apollo lunar landing program.

First flight with full crew support equipment.

First launch from Launch Complex 34.

First Saturn IB crew assisted flight.

First CSM rendezvous & station-keeping maneuvers.

First extensive checkout of CSM systems during mission.

First flight of Block II Apollo spacecraft.

First eight Service Propulsion System firings.

First CM landing in ocean.

First live network TV broadcast from space during a crew assisted flight.

First astronauts to experience head colds during mission.

First flight of the Apollo space suits.

First crew to drink coffee in space.

Oct 23: First HL-10 powered flight, Jerauld R. Gentry, DFRF, CA.

Oct 24: Last X-15 flight (No. 199), William H. Dana, DFRF, CA.

30 Years Ago - 1978

Oct 13: Tiros N launched, 7:23 a.m., EDT, WSMC.

Oct 24: Nimbus 7/Cameo launched, 4:14 a.m., EDT, WSMC.

25 Years Ago – 1983

Oct 10: Venera 15 (Soviet probe), Venus Orbit Insertion

15 Years Ago – 1993

Oct 18: STS 58 launched, 10:53 a.m. EDT, KSC. Astronauts John E. Blaha, Richard A. Searfoss, M. Rhea Seddon, William S. McArthur, Jr., David A. Wolf, Shannon W. Lucid, and Martin J. Fettman. Columbia's crew performed a series of experiments to gain knowledge on how the human body adapts to the weightless environment of space. Landing November 1 at 10:05 a.m. EST, Edwards AFB, Calif. Mission duration: 14 days, 0 hours, 12 minutes, 32 seconds.

10 Years Ago – 1998

Oct 24: Deep Space 1 - launched from Cape Canaveral. First mission under NASA's New Millennium Program, it tested new technologies, including an ion engine. On its extended mission, it encountered Comet Borrelly and returned the best images and other science data ever from a comet. The spacecraft was retired on December 18, 2001.

Oct 29: STS 95 (Space Shuttle Discovery) launched 2:19 p.m. EST, KSC. Astronauts Curtis L. Brown, Steven W. Lindsey, Scott E. Parazynski, Stephen K. Robinson, Pedro Duque, Chiaki Mukai, and John H. Glenn.

First Space Shuttle launch watched by a U. S. President [B. Clinton].

First astronaut from Spain to fly in space. [P. Duque]

First Japanese astronaut to fly twice. [C. Mukai]

Mission objectives included conducting a variety of science experiments in the pressurized SPACEHAB module and the deployment and retrieval of the Spartan free-flyer payload. STS-95 returned John Glenn to orbit - 36 years, eight months and nine days after he became the first American to orbit the Earth.

Landing November 7 at 12:04 p.m. EST, KSC. Mission duration: 8 days, 21 hours, 44 minutes.

5 Years Ago – 2003

Oct 15: Shenzhou 5 (meaning Divine Vessel 5) is a Chinese (PRC) manned satellite that was launched by a Long March 2F (translated from Changzheng 2F) rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in northwestern China at 01:00. This was the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) first manned space mission with taikonaut Yang Liwei.

Oct 18: Soyuz TMA 3 was launched by a Soyuz-FG rocket from Baikonur at 05:38 UT. It carried three astronauts: a Russian, (Alexander Kaleri), an American, (Michael Foale), and a Spanish, (Pedro Duque) to the International Space Station (ISS).