Make Your Career Soar
Forty-nine years ago this month, USAF Captain Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr. successfully completed a daring parachute jump from 102,800 feet (19.5 miles). The historic bailout took place on Tuesday, 16 August 1960 over the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico. Kittinger’s jump was the final mission of the three-jump Project Excelsior flight research effort which focused on… Read More
Forty-three years ago today, the Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft began its 92 hour trip to the Moon. Lunar Orbiter 1 rode into space aboard an Atlas-Agena D launch vehicle which lifted-off from Pad 13 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Lift-off time was 19:26 UTC on Wednesday, 10 August 2009. Lunar Orbiter 1 was the… Read More
Fifty-eight years ago this week, a United States Navy Viking rocket soared to an altitude of 136 miles. In doing so, it eclipsed the previous single stage altitude record of 114 miles set by a captured German V-2 rocket on Tuesday, 17 December 1946. The mission was part of the Navy’s 12-flight… Read More
Forty years ago today, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins arrived back at the Johnson Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston, Texas following their epic journey to and safe return from the Moon. Following splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, 24 July, 1969,… Read More
Forty years ago today, the United States of America landed two men on the surface of the Moon. The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle landed in Sea of Tranquility region of the Moon on Sunday, 20 July 1969 at 20:17:40 UTC. Less than seven hours later, astronauts Neil A. Armstrong… Read More
Forty years ago this week, the epic flight of Apollo 11, the first mission to land men on the Moon, began with launch from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at Merritt Island, Florida. Nearly 1-million people gathered around America’s famous space complex to witness the historic event. An estimated 1-billion… Read More
Thirty-three years ago this month, on the seventh anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, Viking I became the first spacecraft to successfully land on the surface of the planet Mars. The primary purpose of the mission was to search for signs of life on the Martian surface. The Viking I mission began with… Read More
On Saturday, 29 June 1957, the USAF/Convair XB-58A (S/N 55-660) first attained its double-sonic design airspeed when it flew to Mach 2.03 at an altitude of 43,250 feet. This historic achievement took place on the type’s 24th flight. The mission totaled 1 hour and 55 minutes and was commanded by Convair test… Read More
On Monday, 21 June 2004, Scaled Composite’s SpaceShipOne flew to an altitude of 62.214 statute miles. The flight marked the first time that a privately-developed flight vehicle had flown above the 62-statute mile boundary that entitles the flight crew to FAI-certified astronaut wings. As a result, SpaceShipOne pilot Mike Melvill became… Read More
Forty-four years ago this month, Astronaut Edward H. White II became the first American to perform what in NASA parlance is referred to as an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). In simple terms; a space walk. White, Mission Commander James A. McDivitt and their Gemini IV spacecraft were launched into low… Read More
