Forty years ago today — October 14, 1970 — test pilot John A. Manke flew the X-24A lifting body on its first supersonic flight over Edwards AFB.
(X-24A on the lakebed at Edwards AFB. NASA image.)
The X-24A was one of several lifting bodies used to study Space Shuttle flight characteristics.
And 45 years ago today, in 1965, the second Orbiting Geophysical Observatory — OGO-2 — was launched by a Thor rocket from Vandenberg AFB. It was the first OGO launch from Vandy, and was placed in a polar orbit.
I feel privileged, and somewhat awed, to have served (and done some neat things) at both of those bases.
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