1992:
A Soyuz launch vehicle lofts Russia’s Resurs F-15 remote-sensing satellite from PlesetskCosmodrome.
June 24
1961:
U.S. President John Kennedy sends a letter to Vice President Lyndon Johnson directing him to consolidate the nation’s communications satellite program, noting it is a priority for the public’s interest. A year later,
the Communications Act of 1962 was passed, which led to the creation of the Communications Satellite Corp
. (Comsat)
in 1963.
1974:
The Soviet Union launches Salyut 3, its first military space station,
on a Proton rocket from BaikonurCosmodrome. The Soviet military space stations also were known as Almaz.
1999:
The
Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite
launches on a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The space telescope, a project led by NASA with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency and the French Space Agency, CNES, used far ultraviolet wavelengths to study the density of the early universe.
June 25
1945:
Construction begins
on the U.S. Army White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico, a missile testing facility now called White Sands Missile Range.
1960:
The U.S. Air Force establishes the Aerospace Corp., a not-for-profit federally funded research and development center
, to provide independent engineering consultation for U.S. military space programs.
1997:
An unmanned Russian Progress cargo ship collides with and
breaches the hull of Russia’s Mir space station
during a docking maneuver. Russian cosmonauts Alexander Lazutkin and VasilyTsibliev and U.S. astronaut Mike Foale remained aboard and
saved the damaged facility.
June 26
1940:
The U.S. Congress authorizes the establishment of a third National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics experimental facility. The
Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Cleveland is now the NASA
Glenn Research Center.
1978:
NASA’s Seasar, an ocean-monitoring satellite, launches on an Atlas-Agena rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
2003:
Orbview-3, Orbital Imaging Corp.’s high-resolution imaging satellite,
launches
on a Pegasus rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
June 27
1971:
The third launch attempt of the Soviet Union’s N1 rocket, designed as the launch vehicle for the Soviet manned Moon program, from
BaikonurCosmodrome fails 50.1 seconds after liftoff.
1982:
NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia launches from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., during
the last shuttle test flight. During the STS-4 mission astronauts Thomas Mattingly and Henry Hartsfield
placed a classified military payload in orbit.
June 28
1917:
The U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics authorizes the establishment Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.,
the first research facility for the NASA predecessor
.
June 29
1969:
NASA’s Biosatellite 3 launches on a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a 30-day mission to study the long-term effects of weightlessness on the physiology of a pig-tailed monkey named Bonnie. The spacecraft was deorbited after only nine days when Bonnie’s vital signs rapidly deteriorated. Bonnie
died eight hours after the spacecraft was recovered.
