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JPL Timeline, 1936 - 2002 (Text Only Version)

Pre-NASA | Early NASA | Growth of Planetary Exploration | Era of Small Missions

 

  Pre-NASA (graphical version)

October 1936 to January 1937:	Frank Malina and other graduate students test a small liquid rocket motor in the Arroyo Seco, a dry riverbed north of downtown Pasadena, CA, with encouragement from Professor Theodore von Kármán of Caltech’s Guggenheim Graduate School of Aeronautics (GALCIT).
August 1939:	GALCIT Project No.1 begins when Malina's work catches the attention of the U.S. Army Air Corps, who hope to use the rockets as supplemental power sources to help heavily laden aircraft take off.
August 1941:	Solid fuel Jet Assisted Take-Off (JATO) helps an Ercoupe off the ground at March Field, CA.
March 1942:	Aerojet Engineering Corporation forms.
April 1942:	Liquid fuel JATO helps a Douglas A-20A off the ground at Muroc Field, CA.
June 1943:	John W. Parsons decides to use asphalt as a solid fuel binder.
November 1943:	The name "Jet Propulsion Laboratory" is used for the first time.
July 1944:	The ORDCIT Project, the first U.S. Army Ordnance integrated missile project, begins.
December 1944:	Private A fires at Leach Springs, CA.
December 1944:	von Kármán leaves for Washington, DC; Malina becomes Acting JPL Director.
April 1945:	Private F is fired at Hueco Range, TX.
August 1945:	Charles Bartley conceives of using polysulfide as a solid fuel binder.
October 1945:	The WAC Corporal is tested at new White Sands Proving Ground, NM.
May 1947:	Dr. Louis Dunn becomes JPL Director.
May 1947:	Corporal E is fired at White Sands, NM.
November 1947:	Thunderbird is fired at Inyokern, CA using polysulfide solid fuel.
September 1949:	Corporal is changed from a research vehicle to a weapons system.
February 1949:	Bumper WAC (round 4) becomes the first guided vehicle to enter "outer space".
June 1951:	Loki project begins.
December 1951:	Corporal is turned over to Gilfillian/Firestone for production.
Spring 1954:	Sergeant project begins.
September 1954:	Dr. William H. Pickering succeeds Dunn as JPL Director.
October 1955:	JPL joins Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) on Re-entry Test Vehicle (RTV) project.
March 1956:	Transistor transmitter is first tested.
October 1957:	Project Red Socks is proposed.
January 1958:	Explorer 1 is successfully launched within months after the Soviet Union launches Sputnik.
January 1958:	Deep Space Network is created (operational by 7-1-61).

 

 

  Early NASA (graphical version)  (return to top)

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).
February 1960:	Concepts of three-axis stabilization and hexagonal bus are developed.
January 1961:	JPL begins construction on Space Simulator.
August 1961:	Ranger 1 is launched, setting the stage for the rest of the Ranger missions, which pave the way for the Apollo human landings at the end of this decade.
November 1961:	Ranger 2 is launched.
January 1962:	Ranger 3 is launched.
February 1962:	John Glenn becomes first American to orbit the Earth.
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:	Due to technical difficulties, Ranger 6 is unable to complete its mission.
May 1964:	JPL 's Space Flight Operations Facility (SFOF) is dedicated.
July 1964:	Ranger 7 successfully transmits 4, 316 images of the Moon’s surface.
August 1964:	NASA appoints Alvin Luedecke as first JPL Deputy Director.
February 1965:	Ranger 8 successfully transmits 7,137 images of the Moon’s surface.
March 1965:	Ranger 9 successfully transmits 5,814 images of the Moon’s surface.
June 1965:	NASA representatives brief officials from the Atomic Energy Commission on Apollo experiments program and discusses means of coordinating the Commission's work on a radioisotope generator to power those experiments.
July 1965:	Mariner 4 photographs the surface of Mars.
April 1966:	DSS-14 (“Deep Space Station,” consisting of a 210 foot Deep Space Network antenna) at the Goldstone Tracking Station is dedicated near Barstow, CA.
June 1966:	Surveyor 1 lands near Moon’s equator in the area known as the Ocean of Storms.
September 1966:	Surveyor 2 lands on the Moon’s Crater Copernicus.
April 1967:	Surveyor 3 lands on the Moon’s Ocean of Storms.
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.
January 1968:	Surveyor 7 lands on the Moon’s highlands just north of Tycho's crater.
November 1967:	NASA orders JPL wind tunnels torn down (completed in 1989).
November 1967:	NASA recasts its future plans for planetary exploration.  As a result, JPL is redefined.
July 1969:	The first US astronauts land on the Moon.

 

  Growth of Planetary Exploration (graphical version) (return to top)

November 1971:	Mariner 9 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit a planet. Mars is the first planet it orbits.
By 1972:	15 percent of JPL 's work is civil systems related.
December 1973:	Pioneer 10 flys by Jupiter; performs first radio signal occultation.
By 1973:	Use of on-board programmable digital computers on spacecraft made them instruments of exploration rather than rigid remote sensors.
By 1973:	Radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) agreement is completed between NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission.
March 1974:	Mariner 10 arrives at Mercury after using first planetary gravity assist at Venus.  Photos of the planet are taken and transmitted to Earth.  A second set of pictures is taken after Mariner 10 enters solar orbit and encounters the planet again in September, this time from the sunlit side of the planet.
August 1975:	Viking 1 orbits and lands on Mars.
September 1975:	Viking 2 orbits and lands on Mars.
April 1976:	Dr. Bruce Murray becomes JPL Director shortly after Dr. Pickering retires.
July 1976:	Murray advocates "purple pigeon" projects.
August 1977 and September 1977:	Voyager 2 and 1 respectively are launched on scientific “Grand Tour” of four outer planets using gravity assist flybys.  Last dual spacecraft mission.
June 1978:	SEASAT is launched to collect and provide scientific data for oceanographers, meteorologists and commercial users of the seas by carrying instruments to measure ocean currents, tides, waves, surface temperatures, cloud patterns and ice fields.
May 1980:	Memo of Understanding between the US Army and JPL.  JPL becomes a key resource for army research and development.
June 1981:	First Shuttle mission occurs.
July 1982:	Arroyo Center is created at JPL.  It is transferred to RAND in December 1984.
1982:	All Source Analysis System/Enemy Situation Correlation Element (ASAS/ENSCE) Project starts under full security conditions for US Department of Defense.  It comprises about 25 percent of JPL's business during this period.
July 1982:	Murray resigns as Director.
October 1982:	Dr. Lew Allen becomes JPL Director.
January 1983:	Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) is launched.
April 1983:	First Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) satellite is launched from a Space Shuttle.
May 1985:	Civil Programs and Defense Programs are collapsed to form the single Defense Civil Programs Office.
January 1986:	Challenger explodes.  JPL missions affected: Galileo, Magellan, and Ulysses. (Missions are later rescheduled or revived).
September 1986:	Non-space related low-cost Silicon Solar Array project (which began in the mid 1970s) ends.
May 1989:	Magellan becomes first spacecraft to launch from a Space Shuttle, to map Venus using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) as well as prepare a gravity map.  "Reaction wheels" are used for positioning. "Aerobraking" also is used for first time.
October 1989:	Galileo is launched from Space Shuttle—mission complicated by high gain antenna failing to deploy, demanding telemetry changes as a Jupiter probe.

 

  Era of Small Missions (graphical version) (return to top)

April 1990:	Wide Field Planetary Camera launches with Hubble Telescope from Shuttle.
October 1990:	Ulysses is launched from Space Shuttle to investigate the Sun.
January 1991:	Dr. Edward Stone becomes JPL Director after retirement of Allen.
August 1992:	TOPEX/Poseidon ocean satellite begins operation.
October 1992:	JPL is placed on EPA Superfund clean up list due to detection of low levels of solvents in the groundwater near JPL.
August 1993:	Due to technical difficulties, Mars Observer does not complete its mission in Mars orbit.
December 1993:	Wide Field Camera upgrade is installed on Hubble Telescope.
April 1994:	DSN (Deep Space Network) begins using beam waveguide 34M antennas.
July 1994:	Assistant JPL Directors designation replaced by Directorates.
July 1994:	JPL disseminates on-line images via the Internet during the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter.  3.2 million access hits are logged in during 1994 from 59 countries.
November 1996:	Mars Global Surveyor launches, with Mars Observer instruments.
July and August 1997:	“Cheap and quick” Pathfinder with Sojourner rover arrives and explores Mars.  565 million hits are logged at the Pathfinder Internet Sites (JPL  + 11 mirror sites) between July 1 and August 4, 1997.
October 1997:	Cassini is launched to investigate Saturn and Titan.
October 1997:	8000 hour test of a xenon ion drive engine is completed.
October 1998:	Deep Space 1 is launched using ion drive.
February 1999:	Stardust launched to explore a comet, robotically obtain samples and return them to Earth.
March 1999:	Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) is launched.  However, unable to carry out its primary science mission, spacecraft operations redirects its use to onboard star tracker for long-term monitoring of bright stars in support of two separate science programs: astroseismology and planet-finding.
June 1999:	SeaWinds weather radar system is launched.  In addition to its primary role of measuring oceanic winds, this spaceborne scatterometer significantly contributes to non-ocean studies in vegetation and polar ice.
September 1999:	Due to technical difficulties, Mars Climate Orbiter does not complete its mission.
December 1999:	Due to technical difficulties, Mars Polar Lander does not complete its mission.
December 1999:	Active Cavity Irradiance Monitor Satellite (AcrimSat) is launched to monitor Sun’s radiation output.
December 1999:	ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), an imaging instrument that is flying on satellite Terra and part of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS), is launched to obtain detailed maps of land surface temperature, emissivity, reflectance and elevation.
February 2000:	MISR (Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer) begins collecting science data on the Earth’s environment from TERRA satellite, launched two months before.
January 2001:	Mars Global Surveyor completes primary mission of mapping Mars.
May 2001:	Dr. Charles Elachi takes over JPL Director responsibilities from the retiring Dr. Stone.
August 2001:	Genesis spacecraft is launched to collect particles of the solar wind.
December 2001:	Jason 1 is launched as a follow-up to Topex/Poseidon to monitor global ocean circulation, discover the tie between the oceans and atmosphere, improve global climate predictions, and monitor events such as El Niño.
March 2002:	GRACE, a joint U.S.-German mission consisting of two spacecraft flying in tandem to measure Earth's gravitational field very precisely, is launched
May 2002:	AIRS is flown on NASA's Aqua satellite to study Earth's atmosphere.