Mengering, an engineer working for the city of Magdeburg, is entranced by the theories of Peter Bender, who proposes that the people of the earth are in fact living on the inside surface of a hollow sphere. He believes that this can be proven. A rocket fired vertically from Magdeburg should impact south of New Zealand. Mengering convinces the city authorities to fund experiments leading to this objective. Nebel, now a member of the Nazi Party, obtains a contract of 25,000 Marks for the first step. He will build a rocket that will carry a man to an altitude of one kilometre, from where the pilot will bail out and return to earth by parachute. The rocket is to be fired on 11 June 1933 in a huge event publicizing the city. The Pilot Rocket would be in the form of the VfR Repulsors, with the passenger in a bullet-shaped fairing over the engine compartment, and the propellants being stored in two long cylindrical tanks trailing the engine. It was to be 7.6 m tall and powered by an engine of 600 kgf. A prototype was to be built first, 4.6 m tall, powered by a 200 kgf motor. This would not be capable of carrying a pilot, but would have a parachute for recovery.

Major General B. A. Schriever again offered a well defined astronautics program at an estimated cost of $16 million in fiscal 1958 and $112 million in 1959. In addition, $10 million in 1958 and $2O million in 1959 would be needed to procure Thor hardware and acquire a Thor space launch complex. Furthermore, said Schriever, although use of all resources qualified to participate in the program was endorsed it was ". . . imperative that the total Air Force effort in the ballistic missile and space field must be managed by one agency and that agency must be the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division. " Schriever also proposed creation of a research and development command committee, chaired by the missile division, to formulate and recommend technical development in space technology. "The committee would meet periodically and make recommendations to the commander, AFBMD, for formulation of the Air Force program." "(Ltr, Maj Gen B. A. Schriever, Qmdr AFBMD, to Lt Gen S. E. Anderson, Cmdr ARDC, 18 Dec 57, subj: Proposal for Future Air Force Ballistic Missile and Space Technology Development.)

Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment; first commsat; transmitted taped messages for 13 days. Project Score, Atlas rocket placed in orbit carrying communications equipment which relayed President Eisenhower's Christmas message to the world from outer space. (AF Ballistic Missiles Program Status Report.)

United Technology Center (UTC) announced the successful test of a new experimental method to steer large-size solid-propellant rockets. Called liquid thrust vector control (TVC), this technique used a gas or liquid that was sprayed into the exhaust path of rocket engine exhaust, thus deflecting the exhaust and thereby turning the vehicle. The test was conducted on a 450,000-pound thrust solid-fuel engine.

Atlas 109F was the final Atlas research and development flight test missile to be launched. Since the first attempted launch of a Series A Atlas on 11 June 1957, 95 Atlas missiles had been used in the R&D program - eight As, nine Bs, six Cs, 32 Ds, 24 Es, and 16 Fs. All but 12 of these were launched from Cape Canaveral. Of the 95 launches, 57 were considered successful while 38 were failures.

Atlas 109F was the final Atlas research and development flight test missile to be launched. Since the first attempted launch of a Series A Atlas on 11 June 1957, 95 Atlas missiles had been used in the R&D program - eight As, nine Bs, six Cs, 32 Ds, 24 Es, and 16 Fs. All but 12 of these were launched from Cape Canaveral. Of the 95 launches, 57 were considered successful while 38 were failures. KH-7 type satellite. Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).

Atlas 109F was the final Atlas research and development flight test missile to be launched. Since the first attempted launch of a Series A Atlas on 11 June 1957, 95 Atlas missiles had been used in the R&D program - eight As, nine Bs, six Cs, 32 Ds, 24 Es, and 16 Fs. All but 12 of these were launched from Cape Canaveral. Of the 95 launches, 57 were considered successful while 38 were failures.

Smirnov calls the Military Industrial Commission and the Chief Designers together to consider Pashkov's letter and how to respond to the American Gemini successes. Korolev is ill and unable to attend. His deputies are unable to provide any firm schedule for completion and fight of Voskhod or Soyuz spacecraft. Soviet projections are that over the next year the Americans will fly manned missions of 20 to 30 days duration and conduct many military experiments from manned spacecraft. It is decided that a crash effort needs to be applied to Soyuz development. However no further Voskhods will be built beyond the five already being assembled, but those Voskhods will be dedicated to setting record duration flights of 15 to 30 days and conducting military experiments.

A unique flight of the 7K-T/AF modification of the Soyuz spacecraft. The orbital module was dominated by the large Orion 2 astrophysical camera. The crew conducted astrophysical observations of stars in the ultraviolet range. Additional experiments included spectrozonal photography of specific areas of the earth's surface, and continued testing of space craft's on-board systems.

Military-Industrial Commission (VPK) Decree 'On course of work on Energia-Buran' was issued. The declaration of the Presidium directed co-operation between all concerned user, research, and factory organisations in realising the project. Chief Constructor within NPO Energia was I N Sadovskiy. Chief Designer for the launch vehicle was Y P Kolyako and for the orbiter P V Tsybin. NPO Yuzhnoye in the Ukraine would build the booster rockets.

Solar activity monitoring; hosted experiments from Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary. Comprehensive study of the effects of artificial impact of modulated electron flows and plasma beams on the ionosphere and magnetosphere of the Earth (forming part of the Apex international scientific project, conducted jointly with Bulgaria, Czechoslovak ia, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania.) Launched with the Czechoslovak satellite Magion-3, separated from the space object Intercosmos-25 on 28 Dec 1991, in accordance with the scientific programme of the Apex project.

Separated from Intercosmos 25 on 12/28/91; geophysical. Research of magnetosphere nad the ionosphere of the Earth by passive and active methods. Launched on 18 Dec 1991. The Czechoslovak satellite Magion 3 forms, together with the spacecraft Intercosmos 25, part of the Apex scientific project. Magion 3 was sep arated into an autonomous orbit on 28 Dec 1991. Magion 3 was launched into orbit by the Soviet spacecraft Intercosmos 25.

Stationed at 101.2 deg W. DirecTV, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hughes Communications and offers commercial satellite television service to the US. The orbital part of the system consists of 3 Hughes-built geosynchronous satellites. Broadcast services began in mid-1994. Competitors include the similar Primestar and USSB services, as well as older C-band satellite services and cable TV companies. Spacecraft: DirecTV uses the Hughes HS-601 spacecraft design.3-Axis stabilised, zero momentum biased control system. Two solar arrays (4 panels each side) span 31 meters and generate 4.3 kW power. Payload: The 2.5 m diameter graphite transmit reflector performs beam shaping.16 x 120 watt Ka-Band (12.2 - 12.7 GHz) transponders with 48-53 dBw EIRP and 24 MHz bandwidth. Power is higher in areas with heavy rain. The high power combined with Reed Solomon error correction coding allow the use of small 18 inch antennas by customers.
Financial/Operational:
FCC approved Direct Broadcast Satellites in 1986. By 1997 DirecTV had 2.6 million of 5.0 million US direct broadcast television subscribers. Direct Broadcast Satellites cost $ 175 million each and have 150 video channels. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 101 deg W in 1994-1999; 110 deg W in 1999-2000 As of 6 September 2001 located at 109.78 deg W drifting at 0.004 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 72.51W drifting at 0.011W degrees per day.

Geostationary at 157.6E. Launch vehicle put payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit with RAAN Cntl trajectory option. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 178 deg E in 1997-1999 As of 5 September 2001 located at 178.02 deg E drifting at 0.006 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 178.19E drifting at 0.002E degrees per day.

First test flight of a large hybrid propulsion system. The Suborbital Aerodynamic Reentry Experiment payload, a joint project between Ames and Wallops, included a 'wave rider' flying wedge, a linear aerobrake (or hypersonic parachute), and a Slotted Compression Ramp Probe (SCRAMP), a super stable planetary reentry probe. The wedge was 127 centimeters long and was to free fly like a glider after deployment.

Parasol carried a wide-field imaging radiometer/polarimeter called POLDER (Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances), designed in partnership with the LOA atmospheric optics laboratory in Lille (CNRS-USTL). POLDER was designed to improve the knowledge of the radiative and microphysical properties of clouds and aerosols by measuring the directionality and polarization of light reflected by the Earth-atmosphere system.

The Essaim demonstrator was a system of several micro-satellites (Essaim means 'swarm' in French) for 'analysis of the electro-magnetic environment of the Earth's surface' (electronic intelligence). DGA, the French Ministry of Defence's procurement agency, developed the project. The system also comprised a ground control segment and a ground station for data processing. It was called a 'demonstrator' since the mission's objective was to assess the operational capability of such a system, paving the way for the next generation. The Essaim satellites were based on EADS Astrium's Myriade multipurpose micro-satellite. In early 2000, the DGA awarded the contract for the development, manufacturing of this turnkey system of micro-satellites and associated ground segment. Under the contract, EADS Astrium was also responsible for personnel training and system operations during the three-year life duration of the programme.

Launch of the first GSLV-III rocket on a suborbital test flight. The S200 solid boosters and L110 core stage, with two Vikas engines, propelled an inert second stage to 126 km and 5.3 km/s. Second stage separation and payload separation were also tested; the payload was the Crew Module Atmospheric Reentry Experiment, a prototype command module for an Indian manned spacecraft with a mass of 3735 kg which splashed down in the Bay of Bengal. Orbit was around -4418 x 126 km x 32.7 deg.