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

June 16: Jr. Lt. Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet cosmonaut, became the first
woman in space. Her flight in Vostok 6 lasted three days.
July 20: The six crew members of C–47 Extol Pink evacuated wounded Vietnamese
at night under heavy fire. For their heroism, Capt. Warren P.
Tomsett, Capt. John R. Ordemann, Capt. Donald R. Mack, TSgt. Edsol
P. Inlow, SSgt. Jack E. Morgan, and SSgt. Frank C. Barrett earned the
Mackay Trophy.
July 26: Syncon 2 became the world’s first satellite to be placed in geosynchronous
orbit. It orbited at the same speed as the rotating Earth,
allowing it to remain over the same geographic area.
October 16: At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Air Force inaugurated a spacebased
nuclear-detection system by launching twin satellites to assume
circular 7,000-mile-high orbits on opposite sides of Earth. The 475pound,
20-sided satellites, known as Project Vela Hotel or Project 823,
could detect nuclear explosions anyplace on Earth.
November 29: A week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy,
President Lyndon B. Johnson issued an executive order changing the
name of Cape Canaveral, Florida, to Cape Kennedy and redesignating
space facilities there as the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
December 10: Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara assigned development
of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory to the Air Force.
1964
1963–64
March 28: After a massive earthquake in the area of Anchorage, Alaska, the
United States launched Operation HELPING HAND. By April 17,
USAF cargo aircraft, including C–124s, C–123s, C–130s, and C–97s,
had delivered 1,850 tons of relief equipment and supplies.
April 21: The number of intercontinental ballistic missiles equaled the number
of bombers on Strategic Air Command ground alert for the first
time. Afterwards, the number of missiles surpassed the number of
bombers in the nuclear-deterrent force.
July 28: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched its
Ranger VII spacecraft from Cape Kennedy on a flight to the Moon. On
July 31, Ranger VII completed its mission of taking and relaying 4,316
high-quality close-up pictures of the lunar surface before crashing into
an area northwest of the Sea of Clouds.
September 21: At Palmdale, California, North American Aviation’s B–70A
Valkyrie flew for the first time, with company pilot Alvin White and
Col. Joseph Cotton, USAF, at the controls. The huge delta-wing air-
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