Learn all about the rich history of our industry as it pertains to aviation, space exploration and more.
NASA Astronaut Christina Koch is returning to Earth after the longest single spaceflight by a woman. Koch arrived on the International Space Station on March 14 for her spaceflight mission. She is scheduled to return Thursday after 329 days, breaking Peggy Whitson’s record of 288 consecutive days in space. Koch’s is also the second-longest single spaceflight by any US astronaut,
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16 January 2003, 15:39:00 UTC, T minus Zero: Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Columbia (OV-102) was America’s first space shuttle. This would be her final flight. 81.7 seconds after launch, Columbia was at approximately 66,000 feet (20,100 meters) altitude and 12.5 miles (20.1 kilometers) downrange, accelerating
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22 December 1964: Lockheed test pilot Robert J. “Bob” Gilliland made a solo first flight of the first SR-71A, 61-7950, at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California. The “Blackbird” flew higher than 45,000 feet (13,716 meters) and more than 1,000 miles per hour (1,609 kilometers per hour) before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, 22
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19 December 1972: At 2:25 p.m. EST—12 days, 13 hours, 51 minutes, 59 seconds after departing the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida—the Apollo 17 command module America (CM-112) returned to Earth, splashing down in the South Pacific Ocean, approximately 350 miles (563 kilometers) southeast of Samoa. The three 83 foot, 6 inch diameter (25.451 meters) ring sail main parachutes had deployed
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