One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University

1965
June 3–7: Maj. James A. McDivitt, USAF, and Maj. Edward H. White, USAF,
set a U.S. space-endurance record of 97 hours, 30 seconds in 63 orbits
around Earth. During this Gemini 4 mission, Major White became the
first U.S. astronaut to “walk” in space.
June 18: Strategic Air Command B–52s flew for the first time in the Vietnam
conflict when 28 Stratofortresses from Guam bombed Vietcong targets
near Saigon. This was the first time B–52s had dropped bombs,
although not nuclear weapons, in war.
June 30: At Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, the last of 800 Minuteman
I missiles became operational when Strategic Air Command
accepted the fifth Minuteman wing from Air Force Systems Command.
July 8: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration transferred its
Syncom II and Syncom III satellites to the Department of Defense; the
Air Force Satellite Control Facility and its remote tracking stations in
the Pacific and Indian Oceans became responsible for their orbital
control.
July 10: Scoring the first USAF aerial victories in Southeast Asia, two F–4C
aircrews of the 45th Tactical Fighter Squadron shot down two Communist
MiG–17 jet fighters over North Vietnam.
Originally designed for the Navy, the F–4 Phantom served the Air Force as the leading
fighter in Vietnam.
July 14: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Mariner 4,
which had been launched on November 28, 1964, reached the vicinity
of Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to send close photographs of
the Red Planet back to Earth.
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