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3 January - Mercury MA-9 flight to go 22 orbits. - Tentative plans were made by NASA to extend the Mercury-Atlas 9 (MA-9) flight from 18 to 22 orbits....
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4 January - Sputnik 25 - ...
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10 January - Unmanned Apollo spacecraft to be flown on Saturn C-1 - MSC and OMSF agreed that an unmanned Apollo spacecraft must be flown on the Saturn C-1 before a manned flight. SA-10 was scheduled to be the unmanned flight and SA-111, the first manned mission....
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14 January - Mercury spacecraft 15A was redesignated 15B and allocated as a backup for the MA-9 mission. - In the event Mercury-Atlas 10 (MA-10) were flown, 15B would be the prime spacecraft. Modifications were started immediately with respect to the hand controller rigging procedures, pitch and yaw control valves, and other technical changes....
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17 January - Mercury MA-10 a possibility. - Asked by a Congressional committee if NASA planned another Mercury flight after MA-9, Dr Robert C. Seamans stated, in effect, that schedules for the original Mercury program and the 1-day orbital effort were presumed to be completed in fiscal year 19...
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18 January - Two aerodynamic strakes added to Apollo CM - Two aerodynamic strakes were added to the CM to eliminate the danger of a hypersonic apex-forward trim point on reentry. (During a high-altitude launch escape system (LES) abort, the crew would undergo excessive g forces if the CM were to trim apex f...
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18 January - Contract to Bell for two Apollo lunar landing research vehicles - NASA's Flight Research Center (FRC) announced the award of a $3.61 million contract to Bell Aerosystems Company of Bell Aerospace Corporation for the design and construction of two manned lunar landing research vehicles. The vehicles would be able to...
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21 January - VVS Review of Soyuz - The primary objective of the design is to achieve docking to two spacecraft in earth orbit. Secondary objectives are the operation of scientific and military equipment from the spacecraft. Three different spacecraft, all launched by an R-7 derived bo...
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22 January - Orbiting Space Station. - Addressing an Institute of Aerospace Science meeting in New York, George von Tiesenhausen, Chief of Future Studies at NASA's Launch Operations Center, stated that by 1970 the United States would need an orbiting space station to launch and repair spa...
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26 January - New assignments for the seven original astronauts - MSC announced new assignments for the seven original astronauts: L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., and Alan B. Shepard, Jr., would be responsible for the remaining pilot phases of Project Mercury; Virgil I. Grissom would specialize in Project Gemini; John H. Gl...
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28 January - Philco prime contractor for the Mission Control Center - NASA announced the selection of the Philco Corporation as prime contractor for the Mission Control Center (MCC) at MSC. To be operational in mid-1964, MCC would link the spacecraft with ground controllers at MSC through the worldwide tracking network...
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30 January - Selection of four companies as major Apollo LEM subcontractors - Grumman and NASA announced the selection of four companies as major LEM subcontractors:...
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31 January - Smirnov opposed to dual female Vostok flight. - Smirnov only wants to fly two, not four Vostoks this year. One male, and one female cosmonaut would be launched in a group flight. Correct approvals cannot be obtained in time for manufacture of four Vostoks until August of this year. Later Kamanin h...
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1 February - Soyuz 'leaves drafting boards' - Soyuz 'leaves drafting boards'....
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3 February - E-6 s/n 2 failure. - Apparent causes were instabilities in the torque sensor circuit and the pitch-free floating gyro device. The upper stages and payload broke up on re-entry into the atmosphere over the Pacific....
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7 February - Simplified terminology for the Saturn booster series - NASA announced a simplified terminology for the Saturn booster series: Saturn C-1 became "Saturn I," Saturn C-1B became "Saturn IB," and Saturn C-5 became "Saturn V."...
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8 February - Department of Defense objectives in the Gemini program. - Colonel Kenneth W Schultz of Headquarters, Air Force Office of Development Planning, outlined Department of Defense objectives in the Gemini program at the first meeting of the Gemini Program Planning Board. He defined three general objectives: condu...
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12 February - Marion Power Shovel selected to build the Saturn V crawler-transport - NASA selected the Marion Power Shovel Company to design and build the crawler-transport, a device to haul the Apollo space vehicle (Saturn V, complete with spacecraft and associated launch equipment) from the Vertical Assembly Building to the Merritt...
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12 February - The Manned Spacecraft Center announced a mid-May flight for Mercury-Atlas 9 (MA-9). - Originally scheduled for April, the launch date was delayed by a decision to rewire the Mercury-Atlas flight control system, as a result of the launch vehicle checkout at the plant inspection meeting....
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16 February - Awful Tired - Research and development launch - Mk 6 re-entry vehicle...
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16 February - Plethora of projeects - Vershinin says the Soviet Union can't work on the Vostok, Soyuz, and Raketoplan manned spacecrafft all at the same time. But he still wants fo fly four Vostoks by the end of the year....
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20 February - Saturn engine-out capability investigated - At a meeting of the MSC-MSFC Flight Mechanics Panel, it was agreed that Marshall would investigate "engine-out" capability (i.e., the vehicle's performance should one of its engines fail) for use in abort studies or alternative missions. No...
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20 February - Smithsonian received Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft - The Smithsonian Institution received the Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft (MA-6 Glenn flight) in a formal presentation ceremony from Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, the NASA Deputy Administrator. Astronaut John Glenn presented his flight suit, boots, gloves, and ...
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1963 February 24-March 23 - Lunar Surface Experiments Panel - The MSC Lunar Surface Experiments Panel held its first meeting. This group was formed to study and evaluate lunar surface experiments and the adaptability of Surveyor and other unmanned probes for use with manned missions....
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1 March - Mercury spacecraft 9A completed Project Orbit Run 110. - Mercury spacecraft 9A, configured for manned 1-day mission requirements, completed Project Orbit Run 110. For this test, only the reaction control system was exercised; as a result of the run, several modifications were made involving pressurization ...
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5 March - American agreement with Australia to build new tracking stations - NASA announced an American agreement with Australia, signed on February 26, that permitted the space agency to build and operate several new tracking stations "down under." A key link in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's network of Deep Space...
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6 March - North American completed Apollo boilerplate (BP) 9 - North American completed construction of Apollo boilerplate (BP) 9, consisting of launch escape tower and CSM. It was delivered to MSC on March 18, where dynamic testing on the vehicle began two days later. On April 8, BP-9 was sent to MSFC for compa...
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7 March - Korolev approves draft plan for 'Soyuz Complex' - Final design approval for Soyuz A spacecraft for earth orbit and circumlunar flight using orbital rendezvous, docking, and refuelling technques. Except for change of orbital module from cylindrical to spherical design, and changes to rendezvous rada...
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11 March - First Apollo LM fire-in-the-hole model test - Grumman completed its first "fire-in-the-hole" model test. Even though preliminary data agreed with predicted values, they nonetheless planned to have a support contractor, the Martin Company, verify the findings....
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13 March - First long-duration static test of Saturn SA-5 first stage - The first stage of the Saturn SA-5 launch vehicle was static fired at MSFC for 144.44 seconds in the first long-duration test for a Block II S-1. The cluster of eight H-1 engines produced 680 thousand kilograms (1.5 million pounds) of thrust. An anal...
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14 March - Unmanned lunar orbiter spacecraft - Homer E. Newell, Director of NASA's Office of Space Sciences, summarized results of studies by Langley Research Center and Space Technology Laboratories on an unmanned lunar orbiter spacecraft. These studies had been prompted by questions of the reli...
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19 March - Chamberlin reassigned from Manager of Project Gemini. - James A Chamberlin was reassigned from Manager of Project Gemini to Senior Engineering Advisor to Robert R Gilruth, Director of Manned Spacecraft Center. Charles W Mathews was reassigned from Chief, Spacecraft Technology Division, to Acting Manager o...
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21 March - Design work starts on N1 launch complex. - ...
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21 March - Presidium of Inter-institution Soviet - The expert commission report on Soyuz is reviewed by the Chief Designers from 10:00 to 14:00. The primary objective of the Soyuz project is to develop the technology for docking in orbit. This will allow the spacecraft to make flights of many months ...
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26 March - Beginning of Apollo CM environmental control system tests - MSC announced the beginning of CM environmental control system tests at the AiResearch Manufacturing Company simulating prelaunch, ascent, orbital, and reentry pressure effects. Earlier in the month, analysis had indicated that the CM interior temper...
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28 March - Test mission - Fourth suborbital test of Saturn I. The S-I Saturn stage reached an altitude of 129 kilometers (80 statute miles) and a peak velocity of 5,906 kilometers (3,660 miles) per hour. This was the last of four successful tests for the first stage of the Sa...
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2 April - Luna 4 - Luna 4 was the second attempted Soviet unmanned lunar soft lander probe. The spacecraft, rather than being sent on a straight trajectory toward the Moon, was placed first in an earth parking orbit. The rocket stage then reignited and put the spaccecr...
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2 April - Final contract with McDonnell for the Gemini spacecraft. - NASA announced the signing of a contract with McDonnell for the Gemini spacecraft. Final negotiations had been completed February 27, 1963. Estimated cost was $428,780,062 with a fixed fee of $27,870,000 for a total estimated cost-plus-fixed-fee of $...
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3 April - Charles W Frick resigned as Apollo ASPO Manager - Charles W. Frick resigned as ASPO Manager and Robert O. Piland was named Acting ASPO Manager....
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10 April - Link to build Apollo lunar mission simulators - North American awarded a $9.5 million letter contract to the Link Division of General Precision, Inc., for the development and installation of two spacecraft simulators, one at MSC and the other at the Launch Operations Center. Except for weightlessn...
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17 April - Preliminary configuration freeze for the Apollo LEM - At a mechanical systems meeting at MSC, customer and contractor achieved a preliminary configuration freeze for the LEM. Several features of the design of the two stages were agreed upon:...
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22 April - Mercury Spacecraft 20 mated to Atlas launch vehicle - Spacecraft 20 was moved from Hanger S at Cape Canaveral to Complex 14 and mated to Atlas launch vehicle 130-D in preparation for the Mercury-Atlas 9 (MA-9) mission. The first simulated flight test was begun immediately....
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22 April - Air lock for the Mercury spacecraft - The Bendix Corporation reported to the Manned Spacecraft Center that it had completed the design and fabrication of an air lock for the Mercury spacecraft. This component was designed to collect micrometeorites during orbital flight. Actually the air...
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28 April - N1 Plans - An Inter-Institution Soviet considers Korolev's N1 plans. He believes the first booster will be launched in 1965. The N1 is to have a payload capability of 75 tonnes to a 250 km altitude orbit, 50 tonnes to a 3000 km altitude orbit, and 16 tonnes in ...
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30 April - NASA / Department of Defense dispute over Gemini management responsibility. - In a NASA position paper, stimulated by Secretary of Defense McNamara's testimony on the fiscal year 1964 budget and an article in Missiles and Rockets interpreting his statements, Robert C. Seamans, Jr., NASA Associate Administrator, stressed NASA's...
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1 May - Rocketdyne gvien go ahead for Apollo LEM descent engine - Grumman reported that it had advised North American's Rocketdyne Division to go ahead with the lunar excursion module descent engine development program. Negotiations were complete and the contract was being prepared for MSC's review and approval. Th...
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1963 May - Nuclear N1 designs - At the end of 1961 the Glushko and Bondaryuk bureaux completed their draft projects on nuclear thermal engines for space vehicle upper stages. It was decided to continue work on development of an engine in the 30 to 40 tonne thrust range. In the foll...
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3 May - Qualification drop test series for the earth landing system - At El Centro, Calif., Northrop Ventura conducted the first of a series of qualification tests for the Apollo earth landing system (ELS). The test article, CM boilerplate 3, was dropped from a specially modified Air Force C-133. The test was entirely ...
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1963 Early in the Month - STL to build the mechanically throttled descent engine for the Apollo LEM - Grumman selected Space Technology Laboratories (STL) to develop and fabricate a mechanically throttled descent engine for the LEM, paralleling Rocketdyne's effort. Following NASA and MSC concurrence, Grumman began negotiations with STL on June 1....
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14 May - Attempt to launch Mercury MA-9 - An attempt was made to launch Mercury-Atlas 9 (MA-9), but difficulty developed in the fuel pump of the diesel engine used to pull the gantry away from the launch vehicle. This involved a delay of approximately 129 minutes after the countdown had reac...
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15 May - Mercury MA-9 - Final Mercury mission, ...
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16 May - Landing of Mercury MA-9 - After 22 orbits, virtually all spacecraft systems had failed, and Cooper manually fired the retrorockets and the spacecraft reentered the atmosphere, landing safely in the Pacific Ocean at 23:24 GMT, 34 hours, 19 minutes, and 49 seconds after liftoff...
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22 May - Kennedy leaves decision to NASA for Mercury MA-10 flight - President Kennedy at a regular press conference responded to a question regarding the desirability of another Mercury flight by saying that NASA should and would make that final judgement....
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23 May - Major redesign of the Apollo guidance computer - MIT suggested a major redesign of the Apollo guidance computer to make the CM and LEM computers as similar as possible. NASA approved the redesign and the Raytheon Company, subcontractor for the computer, began work....
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1963 May - Grumman completed the Apollo LEM M-1 mockup - Grumman completed the LEM M-1 mockup and began installing equipment in the vehicle. Also, the contractor began revising cabin front design to permit comparisons of visibility....
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1963 May - First estimates of reliability for the Apollo LEM - In its first estimates of reliability for the LEM, Grumman reported a 0.90 probability for mission success and 0.994 for crew safety. (The probabilities required by NASA were 0.984 and 0.9995, respectively.)...
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1963 May - Major change to the Little Joe II launch vehicle - NASA and General Dynamics Convair negotiated a major change on the Little Joe II launch vehicle contract. It provided for two additional launch vehicles which would incorporate the attitude control subsystem (as opposed to the early fixed-fin version...
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1963 June - Most Apollo CM subsystem designs frozen - Most CM subsystem designs frozen....
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1963 June - Tests of clustered Proton engines begun - Glushko conducted tests of the new engine from 1961 to 1963, followed by tests of the clustered engine assembly from June 1963 to January 1965. Through use of a regenerative fuel pump cycle Glushko was able to improve the thrust of the engine by 12.5...
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1963 June 6-7 - Mercury MA-10 pitched to Webb - Officials of the Manned Spacecraft Center made a presentation to NASA Administrator James E. Webb, outlining the benefits of continuing Project Mercury at least through the Mercury-Atlas 10 (MA-10) mission. They thought that the spacecraft was capabl...
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8 June - Mercury MA-10 environmental control system changes - In preparation for the Mercury-Atlas 10 (MA-10) mission, should the flight be approved by NASA Headquarters, several environmental control system changes were made in spacecraft 15B. Particularly involved were improvements in the hardware and flexibi...
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12 June - Brainerd-Holmes resignation as NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator - D. Brainerd-Holmes announced his resignation as NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator and Director of Manned Space Flight, effective sometime in the fall. He had joined NASA in 1961 and was returning to industry....
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12 June - Skip lunar reentry trajectories studied for Apollo - The Mission Analysis Branch (MAB) of MSC's Flight Operations Division studied the phenomenon of a spacecraft's "skip" when reentering the earth's atmosphere from lunar trajectories and how that skip relates to landing accuracies....
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12 June - Webb rules out Mercury MA-10 shot - Testifying before the Senate Space Committee, James E. Webb, the NASA Administrator, said: 'There will be no further Mercury shots . . .' He felt that the manned space flight energies and personnel should focus on the Gemini and Apollo programs. Thus...
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14 June - Vostok 5 - Joint flight with Vostok 6. The Soviet Union launched ...
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15 June - First tests of RD-253 engine cluster for Proton. - Ground tests of the clustered engine assembly ran from June 1963 to January 1965....
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16 June - Vostok 6 - Joint flight with Vostok 5. First woman in space, and the only Russian woman to go into space until Svetlana Savitskaya 19 years later. On its first orbit, ...
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19 June - Landing of Vostok 6 - Vostok 6 landed at 08:20 GMT at 53:16 N 80:27 E....
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19 June - Landing of Vostok 5 - Vostok 5 landed at 11:06 GMT at 53:24 N 67:37 E....
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20 June - Gemini sled test No. 2 at China Lake. - Sled test No. 2, the first dynamic dual-ejection test of the Gemini escape system, was run at China Lake. Both seats ejected and all systems functioned properly. The test was scheduled to be rerun, however, because the sled failed to attain high enou...
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22 June - Design of the Apollo CM's stabilization and control system frozen - North American officially froze the design of the CM's stabilization and control system....
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26 June - First full-scale firing of the Apollo SM engine - The first full-scale firing of the SM engine was conducted at the Arnold Engineering Development Center. At the start of the shutdown sequence, the engine thrust chamber valve remained open because of an electrical wiring error in the test facility. ...
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26 June - Frictionless platform to simulate extravehicular activity - MSC announced that it had contracted with the Martin Company to develop a frictionless platform to simulate the reactions of an extravehicular astronaut in five degrees of freedom-pitch, yaw, roll, forward-backward, and side-to-side. MSC Crew Systems...
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28 June - Apollo Pioneer tri-conical solid parachutes canceled - A cluster of two Pioneer tri-conical solid parachutes was tested; both parachutes failed. Because of this unsatisfactory performance, the Pioneer solid-parachute program was officially canceled on July 15....
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1963 July 10 - Pregnant Guppy FAA certification - Aero Spacelines' "Pregnant Guppy," a modified Boeing Stratocruiser, won airworthiness certification by the Federal Aviation Agency. The aircraft would be used to transport major Apollo spacecraft and launch vehicle components....
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1963 July 1-2 - Apollo CM boilerplate 6 shipped - North American shipped Apollo CM boilerplate 6 and its ground support equipment to WSMR....
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3 July - STL go-ahead to develop a parallel descent engine for the Apollo LEM - Space Technology Laboratories received Grumman's go-ahead to develop the parallel descent engine for the LEM. At the same time, Grumman ordered Bell Aerosystems Company to proceed with the LEM ascent engine. The contracts were estimated at $18,742,82...
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10 July - Prototype engine for the Apollo SM reaction control system - The Marquardt Corporation began testing the prototype engine for the SM reaction control system. Preliminary data showed a specific impulse slightly less than 300 seconds....
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1963 July 15-16 - Little Joe II qualification test vehicle shipped - The Little Joe II qualification test vehicle was shipped from the General Dynamics Convair plant to WSMR, where the test launch was scheduled for August....
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15 July - 271 applications for the astronaut program - MSC had received 271 applications for the astronaut program. Seventy-one were military pilots (one from the Army, 34 from the Navy, 26 from the Air Force, and 10 from the Marines). Of the 200 civilians applying, three were women....
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1963 July 16-August 15 - Testing of the launch escape system pitch control motor - North American reported that Lockheed Propulsion Company had successfully completed development testing of the launch escape system pitch control motor....
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18 July - Pratt and Whitney to develop fuel cells for the Apollo LEM - Grumman selected Pratt and Whitney to develop fuel cells for the LEM. Current LEM design called for three cells, supplemented by a battery for power during peak consumption beyond what the cells could deliver. Grumman and Pratt and Whitney completed ...
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19 July - Marquardt begins development of the Apollo LEM reaction control thrusters - Grumman directed the Marquardt Corporation to begin development of the LEM reaction control system thrusters. Negotiations had begun on March 11 on the definitive subcontract, a cost-plus-incentive-fee type with a total estimated cost of $10,871,186....
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23 July - Hamilton Standard began development of the ECS for the Apollo LEM - Grumman authorized Hamilton Standard to begin development of the environmental control system (ECS) for the LEM. The cost-plus-incentive-fee contract was valued at $8,371,465. The parts of the ECS to be supplied by Hamilton Standard were specified by...
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23 July - George E Mueller named NASA Deputy Associate Administrator - George E. Mueller, Vice President for Research and Development of Space Technology Laboratories, was named NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight to succeed D. Brainerd Holmes, effective September 1....
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2 August - Grumman to design the LEM to have a thrusting capability with the Apollo CSM attached - North American asked MSC if Grumman was designing the LEM to have a thrusting capability with the CSM attached and, if not, did NASA intend to require the additional effort by Grumman to provide this capability. North American had been proceeding on ...
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5 August - First static firing test of Saturn S-IV stage for SA-5 - In what was to have been an acceptance test, the Douglas Aircraft Company static fired the first Saturn S-IV flight stage at Sacramento, Calif. An indication of fire in the engine area forced technicians to shut down the stage after little more than ...
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28 August - QTV Spacecraft Test mission - The Little Joe II qualification test vehicle was launched from White Sands Missile Range, N Mexico. Its objectives were to prove the Little Joe's capability as an Apollo spacecraft test vehicle and to determine base pressures and heating on the missi...
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30 August - Lunar Orbiter program approved - NASA Associate Administrator Robert C. Seamans, Jr., approved the Lunar Orbiter program. Objectives of the program were reconnaissance of the moon's topography, investigation of its environment, and collection of selenodetic information. ...
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1963 August - Full-scale cardboard model of the Apollo LEM - Grumman built a full-scale cardboard model of the LEM to aid in studying problems of cockpit geometry, specifically the arrangement of display panels. This mockup was reviewed by MSC astronauts and the layout of the cockpit was revised according to s...
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31 August - Parasail and landing rocket system considered to enable the Gemini spacecraft to make land landings. - Gemini Project Office (GPO) reported that it was investigating the use of a parasail and landing rocket system to enable the Gemini spacecraft to make land landings. Major system components were the parasail, drogue parachute, retrorocket, control sy...
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1963 September 1-7 - Design of control panel for the Apollo CM was 90 percent complete - MSC reported that design of the control and displays panel for the CM was about 90 percent complete. North American was expected to release the design by September 20. Qualification testing of the panels would begin around December 1....
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1 September - Construction begins of N1 launch complex - ...
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6 September - Apollo CM boilerplate destroyed during tests - At El Centro, Calif., CM boilerplate (BP) 3, a parachute test vehicle, was destroyed during tests simulating the new BP-6 configuration (without strakes or apex cover). Drogue parachute descent, disconnect, and pilot mortar fire appeared normal. Howe...
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12 September - Unmanned lunar landing spacecraft to be sterilized - NASA announced that, in the future, unmanned lunar landing spacecraft e.g., Rangers and Surveyors) will be assembled in "clean rooms" and treated with germ-killing substances to reduce the number of microbes on exposed surfaces. These steri...
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1963 September 16-18 - Inspection of first Apollo LEM ascent stage mockup - NASA representatives held a formal review of Grumman's LEM M-1 mockup, a full-scale representation of the LEM's crew compartment. MSC decided that (1) the window shape (triangular) and visibility were satisfactory; (2) a standing position for the cre...
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18 September - AiResearch awarded contract for the Apollo CM environmental system - The AiResearch Manufacturing Company announced that it had been awarded a $20 million definitive contract for the CM environmental system. (AiResearch had been developing the system under a letter contract since 1961....
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20 September - President Kennedy suggested Russian-American cooperation in space - President John F. Kennedy, during an address before the United Nations General Assembly, suggested the possibility of Russian-American "cooperation" in space. Though not proposing any specific program, Kennedy stated that, "in a field ...
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26 September - Apollo mission plans - OMSF, MSC, and Bellcomm representatives, meeting in Washington, D.C., discussed Apollo mission plans: OMSF introduced a requirement that the first manned flight in the Saturn IB program include a LEM. ASPO had planned this flight as a CSM maximum dur...
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4 October - Gagarin identified as head of lunar cosmonauts - Tereshkova announces in Havana that Gagarin head of lunar cosmonaut team....
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4 October - Gemini spacecraft No. 1 arrived at Atlantic Missile Range and was transferred to Hangar AF. - After a receiving inspection (October 7) and Voltage Standing Wave Ratio Test (October 8), its instrument pallets were removed for laboratory test and checkout (October 9) while the spacecraft was being checked out, weighed, and balanced. Instrument ...
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8 October - Joseph F Shea named manager of Apollo Spacecraft Project Office - NASA announced the appointment of Joseph F. Shea as ASPO Manager effective October 22. He had been Deputy Director (Systems) in OMSF. George M. Low, OMSF Deputy Director (Programs), would direct the Systems office as well as his own. Robert O. Piland...
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24 October - NASA-Industry Apollo Executives Group - The NASA-Industry Apollo Executives Group, composed of top managers in OMSF and executives of the major Apollo contractors, met for the first time. The group met with George E. Mueller, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, for status...
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30 October - Manned Saturn I earth orbital flights canceled - NASA canceled four manned earth orbital flights with the Saturn I launch vehicle. Six of a series of 10 unmanned Saturn I development flights were still scheduled. Development of the Saturn IB for manned flight would be accelerated and "all-up&q...
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1963 October - Project Luster - NASA tentatively approved Project Luster, a program designed to capture lunar dust deflected from the moon by meteorites and spun into orbit around the earth. An Aerobee 150 sounding rocket containing scientific equipment built by Electro-Optical Sys...
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31 October - First production F-1 engine delivered - The first production F-1 engine for the Apollo Saturn V was flown from Rocketdyne's Canoga Park, Calif., facility, where it was manufactured, to MSFC aboard Aero Spacelines' "Pregnant Guppy."...
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7 November - Apollo Pad Abort Mission 1 - Apollo Pad Abort Mission I (PA-1), the first off-the-pad abort test of the launch escape system (LES), was conducted at WSMR. PA-1 used CM boilerplate 6 and an LES for this test....
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8 November - Go-ahead to RCA to develop the Apollo LEM radar - Grumman issued a go-ahead to RCA to develop the LEM radar. Negotiations on the $23.461 million cost- plus-fixed-fee contract were completed on December 10. Areas yet to be negotiated between the two companies were LEM communications, inflight test, g...
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8 November - Uprated H-1 engine for the first stage of the Saturn IB - MSFC directed Rocketdyne to develop an uprated H-1 engine to be used in the first stage of the Saturn IB. In August, Rocketdyne had proposed that the H-1 be uprated from 85,275 to 90,718 kilograms (188,000 to 200,000 pounds) of thrust. The uprated en...
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12 November - Contract for the construction of Saturn V LC-39A - NASA awarded a $19.2 million contract to Blount Brothers Corporation and M. M. Sundt Construction Company for the construction of Pad A, part of the Saturn V Launch Complex 39 at LOC....
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13 November - N1 launch site facility construction approved. - Central Committee of the Communist Party and Council of Soviet Ministers Decree 'On approval of the schedule of work for the N1 launch complexes' was issued....
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27 November - First long-duration test firing of Apollo J-2 engine - At its Santa Susana facility, Rocketdyne conducted the first long-duration (508 seconds) test firing of a J-2 engine. In May 1962 the J-2's required firing time was increased from 250 to 500 seconds....
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28 November - John F Kennedy Space Center (KSC) named - In honor of the late President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated six days earlier, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that LOC and Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range would be designated the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), ". ...
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1963 November - Apollo LEM tethered flight vehicle considered - MSC directed Grumman to halt work on LEM test article 9, pending determination of its status as a tethered flight vehicle. As a result, the proposed flight demonstration of the tether coupler, using an S-64A Skycrane helicopter, was canceled....
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7 December - Crews for 1964 - Kamanin meets with Rudenko, to discuss selection of three crews for Vostok and three crews for Soyuz flights in 1964. Ioffe reports that the Soyuz docking simulator will be completed by 25 December. Tereshkova, Nikolayev, and Bykovsky are in Indonesi...
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11 December - Douglas contracted for 10 additional Apollo S-IVB stages - NASA Headquarters approved a $48,064,658 supplement to the Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., contract for 10 additional S-IVB stages, four for the Saturn IB and six for the Saturn V missions....
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13 December - NASA canceled five Ranger flights - NASA canceled five Ranger flights (numbers 10 through 14) designed to take high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface before impact. (Five Rangers had thus far been launched.) OSS Associate Administrator Homer E. Newell stated that NASA would d...
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16 December - Safety for Apollo of breathing 100 percent oxygen at 5 psi for 30 days proven - MSC and the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Medical Division completed a joint manned environmental experiment at Brooks Air Force Base, Tex. After spending a week in a sea-level atmospheric environment, the test subjects breathed 100 percent oxygen at 3.5 ...
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16 December - Yerkina wedding - The cosmonaut weds at the TsPK cosmonaut centre, and 80 guests attend. Of the female cosmonauts, only Ponomaryova is not yet married. However the next female flight will be made no earlier than 1965-1966. Tereshkova looks tired after her tour to Sout...
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19 December - First three prototype Apollo fuel cells delivered - Pratt and Whitney Aircraft delivered the first three prototype-A fuel cells to North American....
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20 December - Boeing Company to build five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft - NASA selected The Boeing Company to build five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. Beginning in 1966, Lunar Orbiters would take close-range photographs of the moon and transmit them by telemetry back to earth. The spacecraft would also detect radiation and mic...
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24 December - N1 ground equipment construction authorised. - Decree 'On ensuring the manufacture of ground equipment for the N1' was issued....
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26 December - Extension of Apollo systems to permit more extensive exploration of the lunar surface. - MSFC Director Wernher von Braun described to Apollo Spacecraft Program Manager Joseph F. Shea a possible extension of Apollo systems to permit more extensive exploration of the lunar surface. Huntsville's concept, called the Integrated Lunar Explorat...
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31 December - Samuel C Phillips new NASA Deputy Director for Apollo Program - NASA announced the appointment of Air Force Brig. Gen. Samuel C. Phillips as Deputy Director of the NASA Headquarters Apollo Program Office. General Phillips assumed management of the manned lunar landing program, working under George E. Mueller, Ass...
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