Sierra Hotel Blog
Iven Carl "Kinch" Kincheloe Jr. shot down 5 MiGs in Korea, set a world altitude record of 126,200 feet in the Bell X-2, and became known as America's First Spaceman. He was killed at age 30 during an F-104 test flight at Edwards AFB.
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July 16th, 1945, "The Gadget" was detonated. Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, as a result of the Manhattan Project. The new test...
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General Joe Henry Engle earned astronaut wings in the X-15 at just 32 years old, flew 17 X-15 missions, and commanded two Space Shuttle missions including STS-2 aboard Columbia. He also flew Space Shuttle Enterprise on multiple unpowered Approach and Landing Tests, releasing from NASA's 747 at 25,000 feet. Joe flew over 185 aircraft types and logged more than 15,400 hours. He flew west on July 10, 2024, at the age of 91.
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One moment, etched in the annals of spaceflight lore is the tale of Gus Grissom, John Young, and the infamous Gemini 3 corned beef sandwich.In the early days of manned space missions, starting with Project Mercury, the very first human...
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On June 9, 1982, Israeli F-15s, F-16s, and F-4 Phantoms destroyed 17 of 19 Syrian Soviet-built SAM batteries and shot down over 80 MiGs without a single loss — the greatest air battle since World War II.
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