November 16, 1959. Air Force Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr.,
 after ascending to an altitude of 76,400 feet in Excelsior I, an
 open-gondola balloon (setting three unofficial altitude records on
 the way), makes the longest free-fall parachute jump in history
 (64,000 feet) in two minutes, fifty-eight seconds at White Sands,
 N.M.
     December 1, 1959. A new enlisted grade E-9, chief master serg-
 eant, is created.
     December 11, 1959. Dudley C. Sharp becomes Secretary of the
 Air Force.
     December 15, 1959. Maj. Richard W. Rogers regains the world
 speed record for the US, as he pilots his Convair F-106 Delta Dart
 to a speed of 1,525.6 mph at an altitude of 40,550 feet at Edwards
 AFB, Calif.
     December 15, 1959. Maj. Joseph Rogers sets the recognized ab-
 solute speed record of 1,525.965 mph in a Convair F-106A at Edwards
 AFB, Calif.
     December 30, 1959. The first US ballistic missile-carrying sub-
 marine, USS George Washington (SSBN-598), is commissioned at Groton,
 Conn.
     January 25, 1960. In what is billed as the "first known kill of
 a ballistic missile," an Army MIM-23 HAWK antiaircraft missile downs
 an unarmed MGR-1 Honest John surface-to-surface unguided rocket.
     March 22, 1960. The Civil Aeronautics Board reports that slightly
 more than ten percent of revenue passenger miles flown in scheduled
 domestic operations during 1959 were flown by pure jet aircraft.
     March 29, 1960. The Naval Weapons Station Annex at Charleston,
 S.C., opens. It will provide a final assembly capability for UGM-27
 Polaris sea-launched ballistic missiles and also a capability for
 loading them on submarines.
     April 1, 1960. The RCA-built TIROS 1 (Television Infrared Obser-
 vation Satellite), the world's first meteorological satellite, is
 successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex, Fla.,
 atop a Thor launch vehicle.
     April 4, 1960. Project Ozma is initiated at the National Radio
 Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, W.Va., to listen for possible
 signal patterns from outer space other than "natural" noise.
     April 22, 1960. A federal court of appeals upholds a Federal
 Aviation Administration order that automatically grounds pilots over
 sixty years old.
     May 1, 1960. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) pilot Francis
 Gary Powers, flying a Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, is shot
 down over the Soviet Union near Sverdlovsk. He is captured and later
 put on trial for espionage. The incident creates an international
 furor, and a superpower summit scheduled for later in the month is
 canceled. In 1962, Mr. Powers will be exchanged for Soviet KGB agent
 Rudolf Abel.
     May 20, 1960. The Air Force launches from Cape Canaveral Missile
 Test Annex a Convair HGM-16 Atlas ICBM that carries a 1.5-ton pay-
 load 9,040 miles to the Indian Ocean. This is the greatest distance
 ever flown by a US ICBM.
     May 21, 1960. The last World War II era North American B-25
 Mitchell is retired from active Air Force service at Eglin AFB, Fla.
     July 20, 1960. The first underwater launch of a Lockheed UGM-27
 Polaris ballistic missile is successfully carried out from USS
 George Washington (SSBN-598) off Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex.
     August 16, 1960. At an altitude of 102,800 feet over Tularosa,
 N.M., Air Force Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., makes the ultimate
 leap of faith. In the four and a half minutes between stepping out
 of the balloon's open gondola and opening his parachute, he free
 falls 84,700 feet, reaching a speed of 614 mph. Captain Kittinger
 lands unharmed thirteen minutes, forty-five seconds after jumping.
 This the highest jump and longest free fall ever recorded.
     September 21, 1960. Tactical Air Command formally accepts the
 first Republic F-105D Thunderchief all-weather fighter in ceremonies
 at Nellis AFB, Nev. The aircraft will not officially enter service
 until the following year, when deliveries to Seymour Johnson AFB,
 N.C., begin.
     October 1, 1960. Ballistic Missile Early Warning System radar
 post at Thule, Greenland, begins regular operations, part of chain
 of three planned installations to warn of air or missile attacks on
 North America over an Arctic route.
     January 12, 1961. A B-58 Hustler piloted by Maj. Henry J.
 Deutschendorf, Jr., sets six international speed and payload records
 on a single flight, thus breaking five previous records held by the
 Soviet Union. On January 14, another B-58 from the same wing breaks
 three of the records set on January 12.
     January 24, 1961. Eugene M. Zuckert becomes Secretary of the Air
 Force.
     January 31, 1961. A chimpanzee named Ham is launched atop a Red-
 stone booster from Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex in a test of
 the Mercury manned capsule.
     February 1, 1961. The first Boeing LGM-30A Minuteman ICBM is
 launched from Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex. It travels 4,600
 miles and hits the target area. This is the first time a first-test
 missile is launched with all systems and stages functioning.
     February 3, 1961. SAC's Boeing EC-135 Airborne Command Post be-
 gins operations. Dubbed "Looking Glass," the planes and their equip-
 ment provide a backup means of controlling manned bombers and
 launching landbased ICBMs in case a nuclear attack wipes out conven-
 tional command-and-control systems.
     April 12, 1961. The Soviet Union stuns the world with the first
 successful manned spaceflight. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is not only
 history's first spaceman. He is also the first person to orbit the
 Earth.
     May 5, 1961. Cmdr. Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN, becomes the first
 Project Mercury astronaut to cross the space frontier. His flight in
 Freedom 7 lasts fifteen minutes, twenty-eight seconds, reaches an
 altitude of 116.5 miles, and ends 303.8 miles downrange.
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