Sir Henry Tizard, scientific adviser to the British Ministry of Aircraft Production, headed mission of leading British and Canadian scientists to brief official American representatives on devices under active development for war use and to enlist the support of American scientists. This was the beginning of very close cooperation of Anglo-American scientists in many fields, including aeronautics and rocketry, and enabled American laboratories to catch up with war-accelerated progress.

American test pilot astronaut 1978-1994. Grew up in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, son of an Air Force officer. Flew 339 combat missions during two tours in Southeast Asia 4 spaceflights, 26.9 days in space. Flew to orbit on STS-51I (1985), STS-26, STS-38, STS-61.

Through February 1955 the state acceptance trials for the production missile were conducted. 19 launches were made, 10 of which passed the acceptance criteria, 5 did not, and 4 were used for test of the new radio-correction guidance system. This used the R-5R variant of the missile; one of those four tests was unsuccessful.

The National Security Council approved a Defense Department recommendation to reorient and cut back the ballistic missile programs. Atlas retained its priority, but the Titan program was reduced to second priority. The Thor and Jupiter IRBM programs were to be combined and evaluated by a joint Office of the Secretary of Defense-Air Force-Army Committee that would choose between them for future development.

Objective was limited to test of operation of first stage boosters. The AVD Engine Cutoff System activated on ignition due to destruction of an OT-155 propellant valve in one of the booster engines. The missile remained on the pad. The stage boosters were dismounted, checked, and reassembled.

Teak was a rocket-launched test of a live W-39 nuclear warhead. Purpose was to measure the effects of high altitude nuclear explosions in order to design warheads for the Nike-Zeus anti-ballistic missile system. The Hardtack Configuration Redstone shot the 3.8 megaton warhead to an altitude of 77.8 km. This was the first rocket-launched nuclear test by the United States.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) directed the Army Ordnance Missile Command to proceed with the static firing of the first Saturn vehicle, the test booster SA-T, in early calendar year 1960 in accordance with the $70 million program and not to accelerate for a January 1960 firing. ARPA asked to be informed of the scheduled firing date.

A recent Russian article discussed various methods which the Soviet Union had been studying for sending a man to the moon during the decade. The earth orbital rendezvous method was reported the most reliable, but consideration also had been given to the direct ascent method, using the "Mastodon" rocket.

Central Committee of the Communist Party and Council of Soviet Ministers Decree 655-268 'On Work on the Exploration of the Moon and Mastery of Space--piloted LK-1 circumlunar and L3 lunar landing projects and the Ye-6M lunar lander' was issued. Chelomei was to develop the three-stage UR-500K booster and LK-1 spacecraft for the manned lunar flyby. Korolev was to develop the totally different N1 booster and L3 spacecraft complex for the manned lunar landing. First launch of the N1 was to be by the first quarter 1966, with manned lunar landings in 1967 to 1968. Reprioritization led to work being stopped on Korolev's Zvezda 6-man orbiting weapons platform by mid-1965, after a huge mockup had been built.

Korolev felt that if he had the full support of the Communist Party, the military, and industry he could achieve this goal, and this decree ordered such support. The USSR would be first on the moon. But in truth the draft project behind the decree had not solved all of the technical problems, or provided a solution on how to achieve the required payload on either the booster or spacecraft side. New technology features required for success of the scheme included an advanced guidance system in the N1 third stage equipment bay, the enormous fuel tanks in the N1 first stage, and the Lox/LH2 fuel cells needed for the LOK lunar orbiter. But the real technical problem with the N1-L3 design was the total lack of any weight growth reserve. Even thought the systems had not even been developed yet, engineers were fighting over tens of grams in their weight allocations, let alone the kilograms normally at issue.

Development of Korolev's Soyuz A-B-V, a competing circumlunar project, was evidently still authorised, although it duplicated Chelomei's LK-1.

Military-Industrial Commission (VPK) Decree 'On creation of military Voskhod and Soyuz spacecraft' was issued. Eight days later, Kamanin receives the resolution, signed by Marshal Zharkov, countersigned by Smirnov. Krylov, Vershinin, Sudts, and Gorshkov are ordered to immediately begin military space research aboard Voskhod and also develop a special version of the Soyuz spacecraft for visual and photographic military reconnaissance, satellite inspection, interception in orbit, as well as development of nuclear missile early warning systems. This is old hat to Kamanin. Krylov has no interest in military spacecraft, and will not implement the order.

NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight and Office of Advanced Research and Technology were engaged in a cooperative program to develop the technology of flexible wings for spacecraft recovery. The technology was expected to have broad applicability in the Apollo Applications Program, as well as follow-on manned space flight programs. The principal technology effort would concentrate on parawing and sailwing configurations. LaRC would manage the parawing technology program with support from MSC. The sailwing technology effort would be managed by MSC with LaRC providing wind tunnel support.

Lunar Orbiter V was launched from the Eastern Test Range at 6:33 p.m. EDT August 1. The Deep Space Net Tracking Station at Woomera, Australia, acquired the spacecraft about 50 minutes after liftoff. Signals indicated that all systems were performing normally and that temperatures were within acceptable limits. At 12:48 p.m. EDT August 5, Lunar Orbiter V executed a deboost maneuver that placed it in orbit around the moon. The spacecraft took its first photograph of the moon at 7:22 a.m. EDT August 6. Before it landed on the lunar surface on January 31, 1968, Lunar Orbiter V had photographed 23 previously unphotographed areas of the moon's far side, the first photo of the full earth, 36 sites of scientific interest, and 5 Apollo sites for a total of 425 photos.

With the collapse of the work on the N1, the whole reason for Mishin's design bureau's existence simply vanished in the air. A new high-priority project was needed. Korolev had begun development of a Multi-Module Space Base (MKBS) before 1966. However MKBS was to be launched by the N1; as long as this was not available, there would be no MKBS. Almaz on the other hand did not require a new launch vehicle, although the UR-500 was in a period of intense 'baby sickness'. So while TsKBEM was in a period of analysis and instability, Chelomei's Reutov and Fili facilities were building space stations for the Ministry of Defence.

On one of these August 1969 days, three of Chelomei's TsKBM engineers came to the office of Mishin's deputy, Chertok, with a plan to get a space station orbited before the American Skylab. They wanted a collaboration between the two competing design bureaux. Their plan was to take an Almaz spaceframe, install Soyuz systems, add a new docking tunnel with a hatch to reach the interior, and presto - a space station was finished. Tentative discussions with potential allies within Chelomei's design bureau found support there as well. The DOS 'long-duration orbiting station' was the result of this 'conspiracy'.

The VPK Military-Industrial Commission and the Central Committee of he Party discussed the matter of delaying further N1 tests until completely redesigned engines became available. Back came the ritual reply -- a Soviet manned lunar landing must be achieved by the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Lenin (April 22, 1970). On that date a Soviet man would plant the Red Banner and unveil a bust of Lenin on the lunar surface. Unlike the US President, Brezhnev would never get to see a manned launch to the moon. Additional Details: here....

Kutakhov flies to Egypt, but before leaving tells Kamanin he is not happy with his draft decree on future space plans. In Egypt, four MiG-21's with Russian pilots aboard have been shot down by Israel, killing two of the pilots. These are the first Russian casualties in the Middle East. July 1970 has been the worst month for safety in the history of the VVS - 20 aircraft losses and crashes (previous record - 16 in July 1964).

Glushko's first action was to implement a decision of the leadership to develop a completely new heavy-lift launch vehicle. This work started in 1974, with a planned first flight in 1984, at a total estimated cost of 5 to 6 billion roubles. One factor in the decision was the fact that Keldysh was greatly disturbed by the manoeuvrability of the space shuttle. He talked the matter up until he managed to get Ustinov and Brezhnev worked as well. He told them a US shuttle could manoeuvre around Soviet PVO and PKO anti-missile and satellite defences and deliver a 25 tonne nuclear bomb of greater than 25 megatons force directly on Moscow.

Keldysh was convinced that the US planned to use the shuttle for a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Russia. Therefore the USSR needed an analogous capability to maintain the strategic balance. While this discussion was going on, the energies of TsKBEM were completely absorbed in the Apollo-Soyuz program, on which the prestige of the Soviet Union depended. Additional Details: here....

The last flight in the Safeguard System Test Target Program (SSTTP) occurred. This program provided targets that allowed functions and system checkout of the Safeguard radars and interceptors, Since 23 June 1970, there had been 27 Minuteman I and 7 Titan II flights.

The group was selected to provide shuttle manned spaceflight engineers to operate military payloads.. Qualifications: USAF, Navy, or Army officers with bachelor's degree in science or engineering; four years experience in flying or space-related activities. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. 13 were selected from 222 candidates. The existence of the group was secret until 1985.

Stationed at 80 deg E. Provision of telephone and telegraph radiocommunications and television broadcasting. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 80 deg E in 1984-1989; 170 deg W in 1989-1990 As of 5 September 2001 located at 157.76 deg W drifting at 0.193 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 46.55W drifting at 0.187W degrees per day.

Stationed at 13.5 deg W; later moved to 80 deg E. Investigation of outer space and relay of telegraph and telephone messages. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 14 deg W in 1988-1992; 80 deg E in 1992-1993. In September, 1993, Cosmos 1961 began drifting off station after a mission of five years had apparently been terminated. As of 4 September 2001 located at 80.01 deg E drifting at 0.015 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 74.58E drifting at 0.039E degrees per day.

Manned two crew. Docked with Mir. Mir Expedition EO-07. Transported to the Mir manned orbital station the crew consisting of the cosmonauts G M Manakov and G M Strekalov for the purpose of carrying out a programme of geophysical and astrophysical research, biological and biotechnological experiments, and work on space-materials science.

This freighter was launched from Baykonur on 31.07.1996 at 20.00.06 UTC. All went well and during passes within our range the signals of the beacon- and telemetry transmitters in the 166, 165 and 922.755mc could be monitored. During the pass in orbit 4, 020700-021220 UTC TCA (Time Closest Approach) for the Hague was 020808 UTC (922.755 mc Doppler dip).

If all continues to go according to plan the Progress-M32 will link up with Mir on 2.08.1996 at 2158 UTC. The first pass (of that sequence) of Mir and Progress-M32 in Mir's orbit 59727, will last from 2147 until 2154 UTC. So during this pass the final approach is going on and radio communications regarding this operation possibly can be monitored in the VHF-band.

The Progress-M32 will deliver to the Mir-station a cargo of 2478 KG. 328 KG of this cargo consists of experiments and equipment to be used by the French spacionaute Claudie Andre-Deshays during her Cassiopeia mission to Mir this month. The cargo further consists of water, food, fuel, oxygen, letters, equipment, software, spare parts etc.

Progress-M31: This freighter is still docked at the forward (-X axis) port of the Mir-station and this port has to be free for the arrival of Progress-M31's successor Progress-M32. For that reason Progress-M31 will separate from Mir on 1.08.1996 at 1642 UTC and after a short autonomous flight this freighter will be put on a destruction course and burn up in the atmosphere over a designated area of the Pacific East of New-Zealand.

Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK-3202.

A week and a half removed from the most recent shuttle visit to the International Space Station, the Expedition Two crew continues preparations for ending its mission aboard the complex as Discovery is readied for the STS-105 launch a week from tomorrow at 4:38 p.m. Central time to deliver supplies, logistics and the next crew to live aboard the orbiting outpost. Additional Details: here....

Flight Time: 0.2 hours Pilot: Shane Copilot: Siebold. Objectives: First flight. Handling qualities assessment and basic performance evaluation. Systems evaluation. Cabin un-pressurized. Results: Un-commanded hammering auxiliary spoiler deployments after takeoff. Flight aborted to downwind for an uneventful landing. No apparent flying qualities issues noted. Auxiliary spoilers were disabled for future flights.