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October 1958:
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Hugh L. Dreyden, and
and T. Keith Glennan (from l-r)
being sworn in as the first
Deputy Administrator and
first Administrator for NASA.
Dwight D. Eisenhower stands
between them.
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October 1958: NASA established.
December 1958: JPL joins NASA
December 1959: Vega Project is canceled.
It becomes the last rocket
designed by JPL (displaced by Atlas-Agena due to budgetary constraints
at NASA Headquarters). JPL is assigned the role of robotic exploration
of solar system. Ranger, Surveyor, and Prospector
are proposed
to explore the Moon and later provide support for Apollo program.
1960: Concepts of three-axis
stabilization and hexagonal bus are developed.
May 1961: President Kennedy proposes putting a human
on the Moon by the end of the decade.
August 1961: Ranger 1 is launched, setting the stage
for the rest of the Ranger missions which paved
the way for the Apollo human landings.
November 1961: Ranger 2 launched.
Ranger 7
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1961: JPL begins construction on Space Simulator.
January 1962: Ranger 3 launched.
February 1962: John Glenn becomes first American to orbit the Earth.
July 1962: Mariner 1 launched, Venus probe unable to complete mission.
December 1962: Mariner 2 reaches Venus--beginning of a succession
of flights that lead the U.S. ahead of the Soviet Union in space race.
February 1964: Ranger 6 has technical difficulties
and is unable to complete its mission.
May 1964: JPL's Space Flight Operations Facility
(SFOF) is dedicated.
July 1964:
Ranger 7 successfully
transmits 7,137 images of moons surface
February 1965: Ranger 8 successfully transmits
7,137 images of the Moon's surface.
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Image from Ranger 9
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March 1965: Ranger 9 successfully transmits
5,814 images of the Moon's surface.
July 1965: Mariner 4 photographs the surface of Mars.
April 1966: DSS-14 is dedicated
(Mars site, 210 foot DSN antenna).
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June 1966: Surveyor 1
lands near Moon's equator
in the area known
as the Ocean of Storms.
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September 1966: Surveyor 2 reaches the Moon's Crater Copernicus
April 1967: Surveyor 3
lands on the Moon’s Ocean of Storms "Oceanus Procellarum."
June 1967:
Mariner 5 reaches Venus and begins experiments to learn more about its
atmosphere, brightness, and the magnetic field fluctuations above the planet.
September 1967: Surveyor 5 lands on Moon’s Sea of Tranquility
November 1967: Surveyor 6 lands on Moon’s Sinus Medii.
November 1967: NASA orders JPL Wind tunnels torn down.
November 1967: NASA recasts its future plans for
planetary exploration. As a result, JPL is redefined.
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| January 1968: Surveyor 7 lands on the Moon’s highlands
just north of Tycho's crater.
July 1969: Mariner 6
photographs
surface of Mars
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View of Moon from Surveyor 7
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July 1969: US lands
first men on the moon.
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