Apollo program
Five subsequent Apollo missions landed astronauts on the Moon, the last in December 1972. In these six spaceflights, twelve men walked on the Moon, Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first manned flight in 1968. It achieved its goal of manned lunar landing, despite the setback of a 1967 Apollo 1 cabin fire that killed the entire crew during a prelaunch test. After the first landing, sufficient flight hardware remained for nine follow-on landings with a plan for extended lunar geological and astrophysical exploration, Budget cuts forced the cancellation of three of these. The crew returned to Earth safely by using the Lunar Module as a lifeboat for these functions, Apollo set several major human spaceflight milestones. It stands alone in sending manned missions beyond low Earth orbit, Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, while the final Apollo 17 mission marked the sixth Moon landing and the ninth manned mission beyond low Earth orbit. The program returned 842 pounds of rocks and soil to Earth, greatly contributing to the understanding of the Moons composition.
The program laid the foundation for NASAs subsequent human spaceflight capability, Apollo spurred advances in many areas of technology incidental to rocketry and manned spaceflight, including avionics, telecommunications, and computers. The Apollo program was conceived during the Eisenhower administration in early 1960, while the Mercury capsule could only support one astronaut on a limited Earth orbital mission, Apollo would carry three astronauts. Possible missions included ferrying crews to a station, circumlunar flights. The program was named after the Greek god of light and the sun by NASA manager Abe Silverstein, who said that I was naming the spacecraft like Id name my baby. Silverstein chose the name at home one evening, early in 1960, in July 1960, NASA Deputy Administrator Hugh L. Dryden announced the Apollo program to industry representatives at a series of Space Task Group conferences. Preliminary specifications were laid out for a spacecraft with a mission module cabin separate from the module.
On August 30, a feasibility study competition was announced, and on October 25, meanwhile, NASA performed its own in-house spacecraft design studies led by Maxime Faget, to serve as a gauge to judge and monitor the three industry designs. In November 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president after a campaign that promised American superiority over the Soviet Union in the fields of space exploration and missile defense. Beyond military power, Kennedy used aerospace technology as a symbol of prestige, pledging to make the US not first but, first and, first if. Despite Kennedys rhetoric, he did not immediately come to a decision on the status of the Apollo program once he became president and he knew little about the technical details of the space program, and was put off by the massive financial commitment required by a manned Moon landing. On April 12,1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly in space, Kennedy was circumspect in his response to the news, refusing to make a commitment on Americas response to the Soviets
RAF Ascension Island
RAF Ascension, is a British Royal Air Force station on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Equator. In 1939 Ascension became important as a HF/DF radio station covering trade routes, the first aircraft to land on Ascension Island was a Fairey Swordfish from HMS Archer in June,1942. Wideawake Airfield was a World War II US military installation built in 1942 by arrangement with the British government, the airfield was built using a US task force and went on to be used by more than 25,000 aircraft as a staging point during the war. The airfield was abandoned at the end of the war and fell into disuse, built from 1960-1961 for anti-ballistic missile measurement, the Golf Ball was on Cat Hill, and a collimation tower for radar calibration was towards English Bay. RAF Ascension Island was re-garrisoned by the RAF in 1982 and used extensively as an airfield during the Falklands War. A series of bombing raids was carried out from there under the name Operation Black Buck. The airfield continues this staging post role for the Falkland Islands for the RAF, the station comes under the overall jurisdiction of the Commander British Forces South Atlantic Islands, an officer of one-star rank.
As of 2013, this post has been held by Air Commodore Russ LaForte, the RAF airfield on Ascension Island is run on a day-to-day basis by around 19 RAF personnel, headed by a wing commander. Ascension serves as an airport for ETOPS aircraft crossing the Atlantic. In January 2013, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 777-200LR en route from Johannesburg to Atlanta diverted to Ascension as a result of engine problems. Saint Helena Airport List of Royal Air Force stations This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http, RAF Ascension Island James Rogers and Luis Simón. The Status and Location of the Military Installations of the Member States of the European Union and Their Potential Role for the European Security and Defence Policy
Anti-submarine weapon
An anti-submarine weapon is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, a weapon is usually a projectile, missile or bomb that is optimized to destroy submarines. Prior to about 1890, naval weapons were used against surface shipping. With the rise of the submarine after this time, countermeasures were considered for use against them. The first submarine installation of tubes was in 1885 and the first ship was sunk by a submarine-launched torpedo in 1887. There were only two ways of countering the military initially, ramming them or sinking them with gunfire. However, once they were submerged, they were largely immune until they had to surface again, by the start of the First World War there were nearly 300 submarines in service with another 80 in production. World War I marked the first earnest conflict involving significant use of submarines, in particular, the United Kingdom was desperate to defeat the U-Boat threat against British merchant shipping.
When the bombs that it employed were found to be ineffective it began equipping its destroyers with simple depth charges that could be dropped into the water around a suspected submarines location. During this period it was found that explosions of these charges were more efficient if the charges were set to explode below or above the submarine, many other techniques were used, including minefields, barrages and Q-ships and the use of cryptanalysis against intercepted radio messages. The airship was used to drop bombs but fixed-wing aircraft were used for reconnaissance. However, the most effective countermeasure was the convoy, in 1918 U-boat losses became unbearably high. Most of the losses were due to mines but two were torpedoed, french and Russian submarines were destroyed. Before the war ended, the need for forward-throwing weapons had been recognized by the British, hydrophones had been developed and were becoming effective as detection and location devices. Also and airships had flown with depth bombs, albeit small ones with poor explosives.
In addition, the specialist hunter-killer submarine had appeared, HMS R-1, the main developments in this period were in detection, with both active sonar and radar becoming effective. The British integrated the sonar with fire control and weapons to form a system for warships. Germany was banned from having a fleet but began construction in secret during the 1930s
Dover Air Force Base
Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force base located 2 miles southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware. It was previously the base to solely operate the massive C-5 Galaxy. The 436 AW has two flying squadrons, and the 512 AW has two Air Force Reserve flying squadrons. It was a site for identifying the remains of military personnel killed in the 9/11 attacks. Two sections of the 436th Aerial Port Squadron warehouse collapsed on February 18,2003, no one was injured in the collapse that caused more than an estimated $1 million in damages. The damage covered two of the six cargo processing bays in the facility, Dover AFB is home to the Air Mobility Command Museum. Construction of Municipal Airport, Dover Airdrome began in March 1941 and it was converted to a U. S. Army Air Corps airfield just weeks after the December 7,1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. It was renamed Dover Army Airbase on April 8,1943, *Dover Subbase on June 6,1943, with the establishment of the United States Air Force on September 18,1947, the facility was renamed Dover Air Force Base on January 13,1948.
* Was a subbase of Camp Springs AAF, June 6,1943 – April 15,1944, once the airport came under military control an immediate construction program began to turn the civil airport into a military airfield. Construction involved runways and airplane hangars, with three runways, several taxiways and a large parking apron and a control tower. Several large hangars were constructed, buildings were ultimately utilitarian and quickly assembled. Most base buildings, not meant for use, were constructed of temporary or semi-permanent materials. Initially under USAAC, the name of the facility was Municipal Airport, Dover Airdrome, on 8 April 1943, the name of the airfield was changed to Dover Army Air Base. The antisubmarine mission ended on 6 June and construction crews moved back to the base for a major upgrading project that lengthened the runway to 7,000 feet. During the construction period and continuing into June 1944, Dover AAB became a sub-base of Camp Springs Army Airfield, full operational capability was restored to Dover in September, and seven P-47 Thunderbolt squadrons arrived for training in preparation for eventual involvement in the European Theater.
The 83d Fighter Group was assigned to Dover as the Operational Training Unit, the 83d was redesignated the 125th Base Unit on 10 April 1944 with little change in its mission. It was further redesignated as the 125th Army Air Force base Unit on 15 September 1944, in 1944 the Air Technical Service Command chose Dover as a site to engineer and conduct classified air-launched rocket tests. The information collected during these experiments resulted in the deployment of air-to-surface rockets in both the European and Pacific combat theaters
Project Gemini
Project Gemini was NASAs second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966, the Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews flew low Earth orbit missions between 1965 and 1966 putting the United States in the lead during the Cold War Space Race against the Soviet Union, geminis objective was the development of space travel techniques to support the Apollo mission to land astronauts on the Moon. With these new techniques proven by Gemini, Apollo could pursue its mission without doing these fundamental exploratory operations. All Gemini flights were launched from Launch Complex 19 at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Florida and their launch vehicle was the Gemini–Titan II, a modified Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Gemini was the first program to use the newly built Mission Control Center at the Houston Manned Spacecraft Center for flight control, the astronaut corps that supported Project Gemini included the Mercury Seven, The New Nine, and the 1963 astronaut class.
During the program, three died in air crashes during training, including the prime crew for Gemini 9. This mission was performed by the crew, the only time that had happened in NASAs history to date. Gemini was robust enough that the United States Air Force planned to use it for the Manned Orbital Laboratory program, geminis chief designer, Jim Chamberlin, made detailed plans for cislunar and lunar landing missions in late 1961. He believed Gemini could perform lunar operations before Project Apollo, NASAs administration did not approve those plans. In 1969, McDonnell-Douglas proposed a Big Gemini that could have used to shuttle up to 12 astronauts to the planned space stations in the Apollo Applications Project. The only AAP project funded was Skylab – which used existing spacecraft and he presented two initial versions of Gemini at a NASA retreat at Wallops Island in March 1961. Scale models of Mercury Mark II were shown in July 1961 at McDonnell Aircraft Corporations offices in St. Louis, NASA approved Project Gemini on December 7,1961.
The McDonnell corporation was contracted to build it on December 22,1961, when it was publicly announced on January 3,1962, it was formally re-christened Project Gemini. Gemini in Latin means twins or double, which reflected that the spacecraft would hold two astronauts, Gemini is the name of the third constellation of the Zodiac and its twin stars and Pollux. He was previously the chief aerodynamicist on Avro Canadas Avro Arrow fighter interceptor program, Chamberlin joined NASA along with 25 senior Avro engineers after cancellation of the Arrow program, and became head of the U. S. Space Task Group’s engineering division in charge of Gemini, the prime contractor was McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, which was the prime contractor for the Project Mercury capsule. Astronaut Gus Grissom was heavily involved in the development and design of the Gemini spacecraft, the Gemini program was managed by the Manned Spacecraft Center, located in Houston, under direction of the Office of Manned Space Flight, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D. C
Atlas II
Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. It was designed to launch payloads into low orbit, geosynchronous transfer orbit or geosynchronous orbit. The Atlas line was continued by the Atlas III, used between 2000 and 2005, and the Atlas V which is still in use, Atlas II provided higher performance than the earlier Atlas I by using engines with greater thrust and longer fuel tanks for both stages. LR-89 and RS-27 were replaced by the RS-56, derived from the RS-27, the total thrust capability of the Atlas II of 490,000 pounds force enabled the booster to lift payloads of 6,100 pounds into geosynchronous transfer orbit of 22,000 miles or more. Atlas II was the last Atlas to use a three engine, stage-and-a-half design, two of its three engines were jettisoned during ascent, but its fuel tanks and other elements were retained. The two booster engines, RS-56-OBAs, were integrated into a unit called the MA-5A and shared a common gas generator.
They burned for 164 seconds before being jettisoned, the central sustainer engine, an RS-56-OSA, would burn for an additional 125 seconds. The Vernier engines on the first stage of the Atlas I were replaced by a hydrazine fueled roll control system and this series used an improved Centaur upper stage, the world’s first cryogenic propellant stage, to increase its payload capability. Atlas II had lower-cost electronics, a flight computer and longer propellant tanks than its predecessor. The original Atlas II was based on the Atlas I and its predecessors and this version flew between 1991 and 1998. Atlas IIA was a designed to service the commercial launch market. The main improvement was the switch from the RL10A-3-3A to RL10A-4 engine on the Centaur upper stage, the IIA version flew between 1992 and 2002. Atlas IIAS was largely identical to IIA, but added four Castor 4A solid rocket boosters to increase performance and these boosters were ignited in pairs, with one pair igniting on the ground, and the second igniting in the air shortly after the first pair separated.
The half-stage booster section would drop off as usual, IIAS was used between 1993 and 2004, concurrently with IIA. Led by lead engineer Samuel Wagner, the Atlas II was crucial to the development of the United States space program. Atlas IIs were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. by the 45th Space Wing, the final West Coast Atlas II launch was accomplished December 2003 by the 30th Space Wing, Vandenberg AFB, California
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first component launched into orbit in 1998, and the ISS is now the largest man-made body in space, the ISS consists of pressurised modules, external trusses, solar arrays, and other components. ISS components have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, the ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, astronomy and other fields. The station is suited for the testing of systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon. The ISS maintains an orbit with an altitude of between 330 and 435 km by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft and it completes 15.54 orbits per day. The ISS is the space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and Russian Salyut, Almaz. The station has continuously occupied for 16 years and 156 days since the arrival of Expedition 1 on 2 November 2000.
This is the longest continuous presence in low Earth orbit. It has been visited by astronauts and space tourists from 17 different nations, Soyuz has very limited downmass capability. The ISS programme is a joint project among five participating space agencies, NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, the ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station is divided two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment and the United States Orbital Segment, which is shared by many nations. As of January 2014, the American portion of ISS is being funded until 2024, Roscosmos has endorsed the continued operation of ISS through 2024 but has proposed using elements of the Russian Orbital Segment to construct a new Russian space station called OPSEK. On 28 March 2015, Russian sources announced that Roscosmos and NASA had agreed to collaborate on the development of a replacement for the current ISS. NASA issued a statement expressing thanks for Russias interest in future co-operation in space exploration.
According to the original Memorandum of Understanding between NASA and Rosaviakosmos, the International Space Station was intended to be a laboratory and factory in low Earth orbit. It was planned to provide transportation and act as a base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars. In the 2010 United States National Space Policy, the ISS was given roles of serving commercial, diplomatic. The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research, the ISS simplifies individual experiments by eliminating the need for separate rocket launches and research staff
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense.
The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, tactics, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors and shipbuilders.
In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
United States Department of Defense
The Department is the largest employer in the world, with nearly 1.3 million active duty servicemen and women as of 2016. Adding to its employees are over 801,000 National Guardsmen and Reservists from the four services and it is headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington, just outside of Washington, D. C. The Department of Defense is headed by the Secretary of Defense, Military operations are managed by nine regional or functional Unified Combatant Commands. The Department of Defense operates several joint services schools, including the National Defense University, the history of the defense of the United States started with the Continental Congress in 1775. The creation of the United States Army was enacted on 14 June 1775 and this coincides with the American holiday Flag Day. The Second Continental Congress would charter the United States Navy, on 13 October 1775, both the Navy and the Marine Corps are separate military services subordinate to the Department of the Navy. The Preamble of the United States Constitution gave the authority to federal government, to defend its citizens and this first Congress had a huge agenda, that of creating legislation to build a government for the ages.
Legislation to create a military defense force stagnated, two separate times, President George Washington went to Congress to remind them of their duty to establish a military. In a special message to Congress on 19 December 1945, the President cited both wasteful military spending and inter-departmental conflicts, deliberations in Congress went on for months focusing heavily on the role of the military in society and the threat of granting too much military power to the executive. The act placed the National Military Establishment under the control of a single Secretary of Defense, the National Military Establishment formally began operations on 18 September, the day after the Senate confirmed James V. Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense. The National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense on 10 August 1949, under the Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958, channels of authority within the department were streamlined, while still maintaining the authority of the Military Departments.
Also provided in this legislation was a centralized authority, the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Act moved decision-making authority from the Military Departments to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and it strengthened the command channel of the military over U. S. forces from the President to the Secretary of Defense. Written and promoted by the Eisenhower administration, it was signed into law 6 August 1958, because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the President, the statutory authority of the Secretary of Defense is derived from their constitutional authorities. Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 describes the relationships within the Department. The latest version, signed by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in December 2010, is the first major re-write since 1987, the Office of the Secretary of Defense is the Secretary and Deputy Secretarys civilian staff. S. Government departments and agencies, foreign governments, and international organizations, OSD performs oversight and management of the Defense Agencies and Department of Defense Field Activities.
OSD supervises the following Defense Agencies, Several defense agencies are members of the United States Intelligence Community and these are national-level intelligence services that operate under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense but simultaneously fall under the authorities of the Director of National Intelligence
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack, known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, led to the United States entry into World War II. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U. S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions they planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the next seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U. S. -held Philippines and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, the attack commenced at 7,48 a. m. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, all eight U. S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. All but the USS Arizona were raised, and six were returned to service, the Japanese sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U. S. aircraft were destroyed,2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded.
Important base installations such as the station, maintenance. Japanese losses were light,29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, one Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured. The surprise attack came as a shock to the American people. The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan, the U. S. responded with a declaration of war against Germany and Italy. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940, Roosevelt to proclaim December 7,1941, a date which will live in infamy. Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, over the next decade, Japan continued to expand into China, leading to all-out war between those countries in 1937. Japan spent considerable effort trying to isolate China and achieve sufficient resource independence to attain victory on the mainland, from December 1937, events such as the Japanese attack on USS Panay, the Allison incident, and the Nanking Massacre swung public opinion in the West sharply against Japan.
Fearing Japanese expansion, the United States, the United Kingdom, in 1940, Japan invaded French Indochina in an effort to control supplies reaching China. The United States halted shipments of airplanes, machine tools, and aviation gasoline to Japan, an invasion of the Philippines was considered necessary by Japanese war planners. War Plan Orange had envisioned defending the Philippines with a 40 and this was opposed by Douglas MacArthur, who felt that he would need a force ten times that size, and was never implemented. By 1941, U. S. planners anticipated abandonment of the Philippines at the outbreak of war and orders to that effect were given in late 1941 to Admiral Thomas Hart, commander of the Asiatic Fleet
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport, known as MIA and historically Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the Miami area, United States. It is South Floridas main airport for international flights. Miami International is one of only eight U. S. airports to accommodate the Airbus A380 jumbo jet and it is a focus airport for Avianca, Frontier Airlines, and LATAM, both for passengers and cargo operations. Miami International Airport has passenger and cargo flights to cities throughout the Americas and Western Asia, as well as cargo flights to East Asia. In the past, it has been a hub for Braniff International Airways, Eastern Air Lines, Air Florida, the original National Airlines, the original Pan Am, United Airlines and Fine Air. In 2011 the airport ranked first in the United States by percentage of international flights and second by volume of international passengers, in 2016,44,901,753 passengers traveled through the airport, making the airport the 23rd-busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic.
The airport ranks as the 10th busiest airport in the United States by annual passenger count and is the busiest airport in the state of Florida, the airport handled more international cargo than any other airport in the United States. For the World War II and United States Air Force Reserve use of the airport, Pan American World Airways opened an expanded facility adjacent to City Airport, Pan American Field, in 1928. Pan American Field was built on 116 acres of land on 36th Street and was the only airport in the eastern United States that had port of entry facilities. Its runways were located around the threshold of todays Runway 26R, Eastern Airlines began to serve Pan American Field in 1931, followed by National Airlines in 1936. National used a terminal on the side of LeJeune Road from the airport. In 1945 the City of Miami established a Port Authority and raised bond revenue to purchase Pan American Field and it merged with the Army airfield south of the railroad in 1949 and expanded further in 1951 when the railroad line was moved south to make room.
The old terminal on 36th Street was closed in 1959 when the passenger terminal opened. Nonstop flights to Chicago and Newark started in late 1946, but nonstops didnt reach west beyond St. Louis, nonstop transatlantic flights began in 1970. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Air Florida had a hub at MIA, Air Florida ceased operations in 1982 after the crash of Air Florida Flight 90. British Airways flew a Concorde triweekly between Miami and London via Washington, D. C. from 1984 to 1991, in the midst of Easterns turmoil American Airlines CEO Bob Crandall sought a new hub in order to utilize new aircraft which AA had on order. AA studies indicated that Delta Air Lines would provide strong competition on most routes from Easterns hub at Atlanta, American announced that it would establish a base at MIA in August 1988. The effort quickly proved futile, and American purchased the routes in a liquidation of Eastern which was completed in 1990, in the 1990s, American transferred more employees and equipment to MIA from its failed domestic hubs at Nashville and Raleigh–Durham
45th Space Wing
The 45th Space Wing is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the Fourteenth Air Force, stationed at Patrick Air Force Base and it commands Patrick AFB and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The mission of the 45th Space Wing is to access to the high frontier. The wing formerly operated the recently discontinued Titan IV rocket and it employs 9,512 military and civilians. Since August 4,2015, it is under the command of Brigadier General Wayne R. Monteith, the wing commander formerly served as the deputy DOD manager for the Department of Defense Manned Space Flight Support Office. 45th Medical Group 45th Mission Support Group See also, 45th Operations Group, 45th Launch Group, 6555th Aerospace Test Group for additional lineage, organized to maintain and operate the proving ground facilities in coordination and collaboration with other agencies of the national guided missile program. Provided static and flight testing to meet requirements of Army, from May 1950 to May 1951, had separate operating agency status, assigned directly to Headquarters, United States Air Force.
Operated Down-Range facilities at Antigua, Ascension Island, and Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, 1951–1977, after Oct 1979, launched DOD payloads into orbit and collected flight data for evaluation of ballistic missile systems launched from Eastern Launch sites for DOD, NASA, and commercial customers. Patrick AFB Home Page 45th Space Wing
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This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
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