Make Your Career Soar
Fifty-one years ago this month, NASA’s pioneering manned spaceflight program, Project Gemini, was brought to a successful conclusion with the 4-day flight of Gemini XII. Remarkably, the mission was the tenth Gemini spaceflight in 20 months. Boosted to Earth orbit by a two-stage Titan II launch vehicle, Gemini XII Command… Read More
Fifty years ago this month, USAF Major William J. “Pete” Knight piloted the fabled USAF/North American X-15A-2 hypersonic flight research aircraft to a record speed of 4,520 mph – roughly a mile and a quarter per second. This is about 50 percent faster than the highest speed ever attained by… Read More
Thirty-two years ago this month, the Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched on its maiden spaceflight. Known as Mission STS-51J, the flight made Atlantis the fourth member of the Space Shuttle Orbiter fleet to reach Earth orbit. Mission STS-51J marked the twenty-first orbital flight of the Space Shuttle Program. The primary… Read More
Seventy years ago this week, the rocket-powered USAF/Bell XS-1 experimental aircraft exceeded the speed of sound when it reached a maximum speed of 700 mph (Mach 1.06) at 45,000 feet. Bell Aircraft Corporation of Buffalo, New York built three copies of the XS-1 under contract to the United States Army… Read More
Twenty-nine years ago today, the Space Shuttle Discovery and her five man crew landed on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base to successfully complete the Return-to-Flight (RTF) mission of STS-26. The flight signaled a resumption of the Space Shuttle Program after a 32-month hiatus in manned spaceflight resulting… Read More
Sixty-one years ago today, the No. 1 USAF/Bell X-2 rocket-powered flight research aircraft reached a record speed of 2,094 mph with USAF Captain Milburn G. “Mel” Apt at the controls. However, triumph quickly turned to tragedy when the aircraft departed controlled flight, crashed to destruction, and Apt perished. Mel Apt’s… Read More
Fifty-four years ago today, the first ASSET flight test vehicle (ASV-1) successfully flew 1,600 nm down the Eastern Test Range (ETR) following launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Boosted atop a Thor launch vehicle, the hypersonic glider reached a maximum velocity of 10,900 mph (Mach 12). The Aerothermodynamic/Elastic Structural Systems Environmental… Read More
Seventy-four years ago this month, flight testing of the USAAF/Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet commenced at Army Air Base, Muroc in California. Northrop Chief Test Pilot John W. Myers was at the controls of the experimental pursuit aircraft. The XP-56 (X for Experimental, P for Pursuit) was an attempt at producing… Read More
Thirty-four years ago today, the valiant crew of a USAF KC-135 Stratotanker performed multiple aerial refuelings of a stricken USAF F-4E Phantom II over the North Atlantic Ocean. Conducted under extremely perilous flight conditions, the remarkable actions of the aerial tanker’s crew allowed the F-4E to remain aloft long enough… Read More
Fifty-seven years ago this month, the United States successfully launched the Echo 1A passive communications satellite into Earth orbit. The 100-foot diameter balloon was among the largest objects ever to orbit the Earth. A plethora of earth-orbiting communication satellites provide for a global connectivity that is commonplace today. Such was… Read More
