[A6BSTARM]

1950
President Harry S. Truman decideds that the US will proceded with the development of the hydrogen bomb

1958
The US Army developed Jupiter-C launch vehicle is used the orbit the first American satellite, Explorer I.
The first flight of the North American T2J-1 Buckeye trainer occurs. The Buckeye will serve for 40yrs as the initial jet carrier capable trainer that American and International Naval Aviators first fly.

1961
A US Mercury capsule carrying a chimpanzee named Ham is launched into space on top of a Redstone rocket from Cap Canaveral, FL. This flight is to test the feasibility of manned spaced flight. following a 15 min flight, which will reach an altitude of 155 miles, the capsule and Ham are separated from the rocket. They will parachute down and are recovered by a USMC HUS-1 (CH-34) Seahorse Helicopter.

1962
The NS Savannah puts to sea from Camden, NJ on her maiden voyage to her homeport of Yorktown, VA. The Savannah is nuclear powered and one of the what is hoped to be a future trend for American Merchant Fleets. The ship will enter in commercial operations in May of 1962. However she is plagued with labor troubles from day one of active duty service. The deck officers begin to object to the wage differences between themselves and the engineering officers. The Savannah is 595ft long and can carry 9830 tons of cargo along with 60 passengers at a max speed of 20knts. She was removed from active service 1972 and laid up near Galveston, TX. Later she was converted to a museum ship and moved to Patriots Point near the USS Yorktown in South Carolina. She is currently in Northrup/Grumman Newport News Shipyard having her nuclear reactor and other nuclear components removed. She was recently designated as a US National Historical Landmark.

1966
After a 37-day lull in bombing US Aircraft will resume strikes against targets in North Vietnam. During the lull, the US made unsuccessful attempts to being negotiation with North Vietnam about the war.

1967
The USS McMorris, DE 1036 and the oiler USS Tombigbee, AOG-11 collied during a night exercise. The collision occurs about 75nm south east of Honolulu. Two sailors on the McMorris are killed and seven are injured.

1968
A battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment begins to aid South Vietnamese troops in bitter street fighting during the month-long battle to recover the former imperial capital of Hue. Marine casualties at the end of the battle are 142 dead with 857 wounded. While the North Vietnamese have control of the city they will execute over 5000 civilians as "political enemies of the state".

1969
The total strength of US Forces in Vietnam will reach a peak of 542,000 actually on the ground in Vietnam.

1971
Apollo 14 will make the third moon landing. Launched from Cape Kennedy, the spacecraft has astronauts Capt. Alan B. Shepard Jr, USN; Col Stuart A. Roosa, USAF; and Maj Edgar J. Mitchell, USAF. The craft's lunar module named Antares lands Shepard and Mitchell on the moon. The spacecraft will come down in the South pacific and is recovered by the USS New Orleans, LPH 11, after a total flight of 8 days, 22hours, and 2 minutes. Captain Shepard is one of the original Mercury seven astronauts.

1975
TASS, the Soviet News Agency, reports that the Soviet Union has agreed to sweep mines from the Mediterranean approaches to Port Said.

1991
In the only offensive operation by Iraqi forces against UN forces during the Persian Gulf war. Elements of an Iraqi armored brigade rolls into the Saudi town of Khafji late in the night. The only UN forces in the city at the time was a USMC recon force. For the next 36hrs they will play hide and seek with the Iraqi forces while reporting back to CENTCOM about the forces. During a series of violent fire fights which includes AC-130 Specter, AH-1 Cobra's and an ad hoc force of US, Saudi, and Qatar force will expel the Iraqi's. The fire fights will last over 12 hrs. Some 50 Saudis and 11 Marines are killed. The Marines are the first combat deaths on the ground.