Douglas pilot Eugene F. May flew the number one Skystreak for the first time on April 14, 1947, at Muroc Army Airfield (later renamed Edwards Air Force Base) in Calif. The goals of the program were to investigate the operation of a straight-wing configuration in the lower third of the transonic speed range (which extended from roughly 0.7 to 1.3 times the speed of sound).

Decree 'On work on the R-1 and R-2 missiles' was issued. To accomplish putting the R-1 into production the resources of 13 research institutes and 35 factories were tapped. Glushko was tasked with producing the RD-100 copy of the V-2 engine. R-1 stand tests began the same day the decree was issued (Prototypes had already begun factory tests at the end of 1947). The decree also set forth design goals for the R-3.The specification was an order of magnitude leap from the other vehicles - to deliver a 3 tonne atomic bomb to any point in Europe from Soviet territory - a required range of 3000 km.

Trevor Gardner informed General Twining, Air Force Chief of Staff, that the 19 March memorandum from Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott and the Air Force Council's actions of 16 March were substantially in agreement on the proposed plan to accelerate Atlas. The program was to be reoriented, and its acceleration was to proceed at maximum possible effort with no limitation on funding. The accomplishment of the new program was to be the direct responsibility of a field office under a general officer who would have authority and control over all aspects of the program.

The first Atlas D model flight test missile (3D) had to be destroyed 36 seconds into flight due to a severe engine malfunction and explosions. In addition to other changes, the D series replaced the MA-1 engine package with the Rocketdyne MA-2. The booster engines in the MA-2 produced 309,000 pounds of thrust versus 300,000 pounds for the MA-1. Sustainer engine thrust remained 57,000 pounds. With verniers, total thrust for the MA-2 was 368,000 pounds compared to 357,000 for the MA-1 engine package.

NASA issued study contract NAS 9-119 to McDonnell for improvement of the Mercury spacecraft. McDonnell formed a small project group for the study, which immediately began looking to Mercury spacecraft component improvement, with accessibility as the guideline. Mercury had been a first step, almost an experiment, while the improved Mercury was to be an operational vehicle. One result of this line of thought was a basic change in equipment location, from inside the pressure vessel (where it had been in Mercury) to the outside. The contractor was authorized to acquire several long-lead-time procurement items under an amendment to the basic Mercury contract, but Space Task Group limited company expenditures to $2.5 million. The McDonnell project team initially included 30 to 40 engineers.

Everyone is up at the dacha on the Volga at 06:00 and are ready to leave shortly thereafter. Now the weather in Moscow is expected to be fine. At 10:40 an Il-18 takes off for Moscow with Gagarin's party. This consists of Gagarin, Agaltsov, Rytov, Yazdovskiy, several correspondents, and some film operators. 50 km from Moscow seven fighters intercept the transport and form up as an escort, two off each wing, and three trailing. Gagarin calls them on the radio 'Brother fighter pilots - I send you greetings - Yuri Gagarin!' The aircraft formation flies down Lenin Prospekt, Red Square, and then up Gorkiy Street to Vnukovo. There are masses of people everywhere below. At exactly 15:00 the aircraft shuts down its engines 100 m from the reviewing stands. Yuri exits the aircraft and steps into history....

In response to questioning by the House Science and Astronautics Committee, Associate NASA Administrator Seamans repeated the general estimate of $20 to $40 billion as the cost for the total effort required to achieve a lunar landing, that an all-out program might cost more, and that 1967 could be considered only as a possible planning date at this stage of such a complex task.

Firings at the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) and at Aerojet-General Corporation's Sacramento test site completed Phase I development tests of the SM propulsion engine. The last simulated altitude test at AEDC was a sustained burn of 635 seconds, which demonstrated the engine's capability for long-duration firing. Preliminary data indicated that performance was about three percent below specification, but analysis was in progress to see if it could be improved.

Electrical-Electronic Interference Tests began on Gemini launch vehicle (GLV) 2 in the vertical test facility at Martin-Baltimore. Oscillograph recorders monitored 20 GLV and aerospace ground equipment (AGE) circuits, five of which displayed anomalies. Two hydraulic switchover cicuits showed voltage transients exceeding failure criteria, but a special test fixed this anomaly in the AGE rather than the GLV.

FIRE was a subscale model of the Apollo capsule used to verify the spacecraft's hypersonic flight and thermal characteristics. An Atlas D launch vehicle lifted a Project Fire spacecraft from Cape Kennedy in the first test of the heat that would be encountered by a spacecraft reentering the atmosphere at lunar-return velocity. During the spacecraft's fall toward earth, a solid-fuel Antares II rocket behind the payload fired for 30 seconds, increasing the descent speed to 40,501 kilometers (25,166 miles) per hour. Instruments in the spacecraft radioed temperature data to the ground. The spacecraft exterior reached an estimated temperature of 11,400 K (20,000 degrees F). About 32 minutes after launch, the spacecraft impacted into the Atlantic Ocean. The mission, sponsored by Langley Research Center, provided reentry heating measurements needed to evaluate heatshield materials and information on the communications blackout during reentry.

Construction workers emplaced the final beam in the structural skeleton of the Vertical Assembly Building at Merritt Island (KSC), Florida. Scheduled for completion in 1966, the cavernous structure (160 m (525 ft) tall and comprising 10,968,476 cu m (129 million cu ft)) would provide a controlled environment for assembling Saturn V launch vehicles and mating them to Apollo spacecraft.

The cosmonauts are completely trained, ready for launch at any time with four hours notice. Then Mishin calls Ustinov and tells him that their training is what is holding up the Soyuz 1 launch! From the point of view of the military quality assurance inspectors, there are 100 unresolved discrepancies on Soyuz 1 - the spacecraft is a piece of shit.

Primary experiments consisted of a satellite infrared spectrometer (SIRS) for determining the vertical temperature profiles of the atmosphere, an infrared interferometer spectrometer (IRIS) for measuring the emission spectra of the earth-atmosphere system, both high- and medium-resolution infrared radiometers (HRIR and MRIR) for yielding information on the distribution and intensity of infrared radiation emitted and reflected by the earth and its atmosphere, monitor of ultraviolet solar energy (MUSE) for detecting solar UV radiation, image dissector camera system for providing daytime cloudcover pictures in both real-time mode using the real time transmission system and tape recorder mode using the high data rate storage system, radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) SNAP-19 to assess the operational capability of radioisotope power for space applications, and an interrogation, recording and location system (IRLS) experiment designed to locate, interrogate, record, and retransmit meteorological and geophysical data from remote collection stations. Nimbus-3 was successful and performed normally until July 22, 1969, when the IRIS experiment failed. The HRIR and the SIRS experiments were terminated on January 25, 1970, and June 21, 1970, respectively. The remaining experiments continued operation until September 25, 1970, when the rear horizon scanner failed. Without this horizon scanner, it was impossible to maintain proper spacecraft attitude, thus making most experimental observations useless. All spacecraft operations were terminated on January 22, 1972.

An expert commission met to consider the N1-L3. Keldysh made several categorical demands:

• the laser-based Kontakt rendezvous and docking system had to either be backed up with redundancy throughout, or an independent back-up system had to be developed
• the L3 had to be designed with an internal transfer compartment, as was being done for the DOS/7K-T space station system
• each stage of the N1 had to undergo flammability tests
• the mission scenario had to be reformulated to provide support by more than one cosmonaut on the moon at a time, and use of automated landers and rovers from Babakin at Lavochkin
• landings of the capsule in the equatorial oceans of the world had to be eliminated. The capsules had to land on the territory of the USSR

Marshal Grechko has sent a telegram to Kamanin, informing him that the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre has received the Order of Lenin. The UR-500K booster is mated to space station DOS-7K#1. Chelomei is ill. Mishin takes the opportunity to insult him by replacing Chelomei with Mishin's man on the commission that will judge the UR-500's readiness for launch. Nevertheless, the commission clears the booster to be moved out to the pad on 15 April, with launch set for 19 April at 06:40. In the evening Beregovoi's 50th birthday is celebrated.

All of the pressure on the N1 project was going on simultaneously with the launch preparations for DOS#1. The Central Committee had approved the name 'Zarya' (Dawn) for the station, but it was felt that this name might offend the Chinese, who's secret new manned spacecraft was also called 'Dawn' (it is interesting that Chertok and the Soviet space community was aware of this in 1970 - the existence of the nascent Chinese manned space project of that name was not revealed publicly in the West until 2002!). After some hurried consultations, it was decided to give the station the public name 'Salyut' (although the vehicle rolled out to the pad still had 'Zarya' emblazoned on the payload shroud -- but these pictures were not revealed until the 1990's).

During an Orbital Workshop meteoroid shield test at MSFC, it was discovered that in one hinge section of the foldout panel, nine of the 15 torsion springs were installed in such a manner that they were only 50-percent effective in action to assist shield deployment. Action was initiated to ensure proper spring action.

NASA announced that the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Vandenberg AFB in California would be the operational bases for the future Space Transportation System (STS). The research and development launches of the Space Shuttle would be made from Cape Canaveral, as would the civilian space launches, while the military Space Shuttle launches would be from Vandenberg AFB. SAMSO was the responsible Defense Department agency for defining the military applications and requirements for the Space Shuttle and for cooperating with NASA in the development of the STS.

Multi-Orbit Satellite / Performance Improvement ballistic missile launch detection satellite, remained in service for nearly eighteen years. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 135 deg W in 1984-1985; 65 deg E in 1985-1988; as of 31 December 1990 at 99.16 deg W drifting at 0.050 deg W per day.

SME was developed to investigate the processes that create and destroy ozone in the Earth's upper atmosphere. All instruments were turned off in December 1988 due to power constraints. Contact was lost on April 14, 1989 after a battery failure, and the vehicle re-entered on March 5, 1991.

Stationed at 336 deg E. Provision of telephone and telegraph radiocommunications and television broadcasting. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 25 deg W in 1989-1995; 44 deg E in 1995-1996 As of 4 September 2001 located at 53.34 deg E drifting at 0.294 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 28.48E drifting at 0.016E degrees per day.

ISS resupply mission. Delivered into a 206 x 357 km orbit. Attempted recovery of the Falcon 9's first stage failed. It was flown down to the barge 'Just Read The Instructions' in the Atlantic but a stuck valve caused control problems in the final burn and the stage crash-landed. The Dragon itself arrived at ISS on April 17. The SSRMS arm grappled CRS-6 at 10:55 GMT and berthed it on the Harmony module at 13:29 GMT. After unloading and packing with materials to be returned to earth, the cargo ship was unberthed again around 09:29 GMT May 21, released at 11:04 GMT, and splashed down in the Pacific at 16:42 GMT.

CRS-6 carried 16 cubesats: 14 3U-size Flock-1e for Planet Labs, one Arkyd-3R for Planetary Resources (also a 3U) and a 1U cubesat, Centennial-1, for Booz Allen Hamilton carrying an Air Force Research Lab imaging experiment. The cubesats were transferred to the Kibo module after Dragon docking and later ejected into orbit via the NanoRacks deployers and the Kibo robot arm. CRS-6 also carried a number of mice aboard the Rodent Research 2 package, and a 20 kg microgravity-qualified Lavazza espresso machine.