The Explorers' Club, № CMXIV

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—In Memoriam Michael J. Adams
15 November 1967: X-15 Flight 191—Major Michael James Adams, U.S.A.F. (1930-1967) died when his X-15 broke up during a supersonic dive; a Korean War combat pilot, University of Oklahoma graduate, & Masschusetts Institute of Technology alumnus, he was selected in Manned Orbiting Laboratory Group 1 in November 1965 & successfully completed six X-15 flights, from October 1966.

Commentary: Flight 191 reached the U.S.A.F. (& later N.A.S.A.) definition of space, an altitude of fifty miles—though not the internationally recognized Kármán line, sixty-two miles (one hundred klicks)—& Adams was postumously awarded astronaut wings. He was the only fatality of the joint U.S.A.F. & N.A.S.A. X-15 program, one hundred ninety-nine flights from 1959-1968.

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: In Memoriam
The Phenomenauts, "Heroes" from For All Mankind (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Requiescat in pace.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCXLVIII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 55th Anniversary of OPS 0855
3 November 1966: OPS 0855 lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, an unmanned "Gemini B" spacecraft atop a Titan IIIC rocket; this was the only flight of the U.S. Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory; the Gemini capsule flew a suborbital trajectory & was recovered by the U.S.S. LaSalle; the laboratory mockup entered low Earth orbit, burning up during re-entry on 9 January 1967.

Commentary: The Gemini capsule, SC-2, had previously flown the suborbital Gemini 2 mission (19 January 1965). For the M.O.L. project, it was modified by having a hatch installed in the heat shield, through which the crew would access the laboratory module.

Semper exploro.