A Rand Corporation memorandum by Dr. Bruno W. Augenstein indicated that the Atlas ballistic missile (Project MX-1593) could be operational by the early 1960s. The missile, then , then under development by Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corporation (Convair), could make that date if the existing stringent performance criteria were relaxed while funding and program priority were increased.

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: conducting orbital experiments related to such possible future missions as the inspection and interception of both cooperative and passive or noncooperative objects in space under a variety of conditions, logistic support of a manned orbiting laboratory, and photo reconnaissance from orbit; gaining military experience and training in all aspects of manned space flight; and assessing the relationship between man and machine in the areas of potential military missions.

Belyayev and Leonov practice deploying and exiting the airlock at 37 km equivalent altitude in the TBK-60 chamber. The Vega system for keeping track of the spacewalking cosmonaut's life signs fails again. Kamanin is infuriated. Later he discusses future spaceflight plans with Korolev, who was supposed to deliver five Voskhods in 1965. Korolev says that three spacecraft will only be completed by October, and should only be available for flights at the end of the year. He wants to use one as a biosat in an unmanned flight of organisms for 30 days; a second for the flight of a cosmonaut pilot and physician for 15 days; and the third for flight of a cosmonaut and engineer to perform an artificial gravity experiment. Two further spacecraft will be finished to the Vykhod configuration in October 1965 for flights in March 1966. Nothing is official yet, and Kamanin urges that the necessary resolutions be passed as soon as possible so that training can begin. He thought before that there was little chance that Yegorov's back-ups, Lazarev and Sorokin would fly, but now he puts them back in training so they will be ready for this flight schedule. But Korolev remains opposed to flying either candidate.

It is currently organised in three cosmonaut detachments: Nikolayev commands the first detachment, which is training for L3, L1, and Soyuz fiights. Popovich commands the second, training for Almaz and 7K-VI military space missions. Nikeryasov commands the third, which is the 'observer' detachment.

Grumman President L. J. Evans wrote ASPO Manager George M. Low stating his agreement with NASA's decision to forego a second unmanned LM flight using LM-2. (Grumman's new position - the company had earlier strongly urged such a second flight - was reached after discussions with Low and LM Manager G. H. Bolender at the end of January and after flight data was presented at the February 6 meeting of the OMSF Management Council.) Although the decision was not irreversible, being subject to further investigations by both contractor and customer, both sides now were geared for a manned flight on the next LM mission. Additional Details: here....

Work continues at the Gagarin Centre even on Sundays. Kamanin studies the reorganization of space units within the Ministry of Defence. Leonov wants to write a letter to Brezhnev, complaining about the management of the space programme. He wants to finger Mishin, Keldysh, Sminrov, Serbin, Ustinov, Krylov, Zakharov, and Grechko by name. Kamanin asks him -- can all the cosmonauts write to the head of state whenever they want? Who will protect them from the inferno of backlash that would result? He doesn't support Leonov's idea.

Kamanin has a meeting with Leonov and Shonin on the KIS incident. Shonin claims he was sober. Mishin calls. He says Khrunov and Shonin were not ready for training anyway; they had to be led by the nose the whole time. He would prefer that Yeliseyev, Kubasov, and Rukavishnikov be assigned to the mission.

KSC was directed to discontinue plans for the Skylab rescue capability and to move the rescue vehicle (SA-209 and CSM-119) back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Upon completion of this action, Headquarters responsibility for the SA-209 and CSM-119 would be transferred to the Program Director of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program.

Russian test pilot cosmonaut, 1977-1980. Test pilot, Gromov Flight Research Institute. Selected as a cosmonaut for the Buran program in 1977 by the Gromov Flight Test Center, but the selection was not confirmed by the government commission. Died in the crash of an Mi-8 helicopter.

Manned three crew. Docked with Salyut 7. Transported a crew consisting of ship's commander L D Kizim, flight engineer V A Solovyov and cosmonaut-research O Y Atkov to the SALYUT-7 orbital station to conduct scientific and technical studies and experiments.

Stationed at 65 deg W. Brazilsat 1 & 2 provide telecommunications services to Brazil. Canada's Spar Aerospace was awarded a $125 million contract to build, under license, two satellites based on Hughes' HS-376 design (similar to Anik D). Brazilsat 1 & 2 were the first two elements of Brazil's national Sistema Barasilero de Telecommunicacoes por Satelite (SBTS) network. Spacecraft: Based on Hughes HS-376, single antenna on despun platform, spin stabilised, hydrazine thrusters, body mounted solar cells provide 982 W BOL. Payload: 24 C-band transponders with 6 spares, 10 W TWTA, EIRP >34 dBW over most of Brazilian territory
Financial/Operational:
Contract issued in 1990 for 2 units HS-376W. B1-B2 have dedicated transponders for government use. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 65 deg W in 1985-1994; 63 deg W in 1994-1996; 79 deg W in 1996-1998; 144 deg W in 1998-1999 As of 5 September 2001 located at 143.96 deg W drifting at 0.005 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 145.69E drifting at 2.591W degrees per day.

On 8.02.1999 the Mir-crew transferred the transport ship Soyuz-TM28 from the forward (-X axis P.Kh.O.) port to the aft (+X axis Kvant-1) port between 11.23.04 UTC (separation from Mir) and 11.39.07 UTC (soft mate to Mir).

During the last stage of the redocking Mir and Soyuz-TM28 were in my range and the cosmonauts could be heard via 121.750 mc. The moment of the 'touch' (kasaniye) was reported by Padalka. The autonomous flight lasted shorter than planned. Padalka executed the approach and docking in the manual mode. Avdeyev reported that the fuel consumption measured by the SIRT had been 407 Kilograms. They spoke about 'flying around' but in fact the Soyuz-TM28 hovered while the Mir complex made a 180 degrees turn in the Z-axis plane just waiting until the aft port came in front of that ship.

During the pass in orb. 74116, 1313-1320 UTC, the cosmonauts again used the 143.625 mc. They were inside the station and had installed the clamps to attach Soyuz-TM28 firmly to Kvant-1. The crew almost recovered the Mir-station into the status it had before the redocking. They use the Russian word 'raskonservirovatj', so to undo the 'conservation'. Meanwhile they had 'conserved' the Soyuz-TM28, so they had put this in the 'stand by' or 'inactive' mode. Before the redocking the had 'de-conserved' that ship.

In the period in which the Mir-station is unmanned a lot of systems are switched off. If for instance the redocking fails and the cosmonauts have to return to earth the station must remain alive. Among the systems switched off are almost all life support systems, which consume a lot of energy, for instance the BKV-3 (the a.c.), the Elektron oxygen generator, the BMP (a unit to purify the air of unwanted products), the Vozdukh (the CO-2 scrubber) and the S.R.V.K. (the system to regenerate condensate into water). The crew also switched on again the greenhouse (oranjerie).

The reactivation of these systems was reported in that pass. They had to leave the Elektron 'off'. Padalka reported the start of the program to turn the solar panels to the most effective angles towards the sun.

Mir-routine in relation to the redocking:

During the last days there were indications about the oncoming redocking operation, for instance the necessity to clean up the Kvant-1 and on 7.02.1999 the crew got instructions about the procedures during this operation. Even the undocking time was mentioned 1420 DMV -Decree Moscow Time-, so 1120 UTC, but nothing was said about the day.

Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202.

After four orbits around the Earth the test vehicle was powered by the launcher's upper stage to re-enter the atmosphere for a landing about 1800 km northwest of the launch site. The heat shield was inflated and the IRDT separated from the upper stage. It then passed through the upper atmospheric layers that imposed the highest dynamic pressure, heat flux and acceleration loads onto the system. The IRDT landed inside the predicted area at 54 deg E and 51 deg N near the Kazakhstan border. Unfortunately, a tear occurred in the inflatable shield during descent resulting in a higher velocity and a heavier than expected impact on landing, resulting in some damage to the lower part of the IRDT. The IRDT was collected by helicopter so that the memory unit of the sensor package, with all recorded data, could be analysed. An initial data check confirmed that all experiments in the sensor package worked perfectly.