Bids were received in response to the USAAF request for proposal of the previous October. Vultee submitted proposals for two types (glide and ballistic) of 8000-km range missiles. North American proposed a three-year development program for a supersonic 800-km range missile, culminating in a production run of 50 missiles.

John Blake of the Air Force Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC) described to STG representatives the progress made by ACIC in mapping the moon. Lunar maps to the scale of 1: 5,000,000 and 1: 10,000,000 were later requested and received by STG. In addition, the first two sheets of a projected 144 sheet map coverage of the lunar surface on a 1:1,000,000 scale were forwarded to STG by the Center.

President-elect John F. Kennedy released a special report compiled by a nine-member ad hoc committee headed by Dr. Jerome Wiesner. The committee advised a reorganization of the national space program to increase its effectiveness. Single responsibility within the Defense Department for management of the military space program was strongly urged, as was stronger technical management in NASA. The committee report was especially emphatic in stressing the hazard of failing to complete and deploy ICBMs as part of the nation's deterrent force.

In his State of the Union message to the Congress, President John F . Kennedy said: "With the approval of this Congress, we have undertaken in the past year a great new effort in outer space. Our aim is not simply to be first on the moon, any more than Charles Lindbergh's real aim was to be first to Paris. His aim was to develop the techniques and the authority of this country and other countries in the field of the air and the atmosphere, and our objective in making this effort, which we hope will place one of our citizens on the moon, is to develop in a new frontier of science, commerce and cooperation, the position of the United States and the free world. This nation belongs among the first to explore it. And among the first - if not the first - we shall be."

Korolev and Kamanin meet to lay out Vostok flight plan. There were three variants possible for the March flights: 1) A single female flight of 2 to 3 days; 2) Two female flights launched one day apart, but landing at the same time; 3) An 'absurd' version: launch of a female cosmonaut for a three day flight, followed two days after her landing by a male cosmonaut on a 5 to 7 day flight. The planners selected the two female flight variant.

Three U. S. Air Force test pilots began a five-week training period at the Martin Company leading to their participation in a simulated seven- day lunar landing mission. This was part of Martin's year-long study of crew performance during simulated Apollo missions (under a $771,000 contract from NASA).

First launch of a triplet of Poppy naval signals intelligence satellites, which would lead to the NOSS production series. Official and secondary mission: Gravity gradient stabilization tests. Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).

North American selected Dalmo-Victor to supply S-band high-gain antennas for Apollo CSM's. (The deployable antenna would be used beyond 14,816 km (8,000 nm) from the earth.) Dalmo-Victor would complete the antenna design and carry out the development work, and North American would procure production units under a supplemental contract.

NASA announced that Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 16, a Titan missile facility, would be converted into static test stands for Apollo spacecraft. This decision eliminated the need for such a facility originally planned on Merritt Island and, it was predicted, would cost little more than a fourth of the $7 million estimated for the new site.

Space Systems Division selected the Hughes Aircraft Company as the contractor to proceed with research and development of the experimental communications satellite for the U. S. military services. With a target price of $23.5 million, the contract called for design, engineering, assembly, and testing of what became the Tactical Communication Satellite (TACSAT I).

Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Pacific Ocean at 174 deg E in 1967-1969; over the Pacific Ocean 162-170 deg E in 1969-1970; over the Pacific Ocean 150-160 deg E in 1970-1975 As of 7 August 2001 located at 48.66 deg E drifting at 0.413 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 63.48W drifting at 0.357W degrees per day.

A Parachute Test Vehicle (PTV) test failed at El Centro, Calif. The PTV was released from a B-52 aircraft at 15,240 meters and the drogue chute programmer was actuated by a static line connected to the aircraft. One drogue chute appeared to fail upon deployment, followed by failure of the second drogue seven seconds later. Additional Details: here....

The geodetic instrumentation systems included (1) four optical beacons, (2) two C-band radar transponders, (3) a passive radar reflector, (4) a sequential collation of range radio range transponder, (5) a Goddard range and range rate transponder, (6) laser reflectors, and (7) Doppler beacons. Non-geodetic systems included a laser detector and a Minitrack interferometer beacon. The objectives of the spacecraft were to optimise optical station visibility periods and to provide complementary data for inclination-dependent terms established by the Explorer 29 (GEOS 1) gravimetric studies. The spacecraft was placed into a retrograde orbit to accomplish these objectives. Operational problems occurred in the main power system, optical beacon flash system, and the spacecraft clock, and adjustments in scheduling resulted in nominal operations.

Kamanin is making state funeral arrangements for Belyayev. The question is -- shall he be given the same send-off as Gagarin and Komarov, or less? Word comes down from the Kremlin - less. He is to be buried not in the Kremlin wall at Red Square, but in Novodevich Cemetary.

MSC proposed that SL-1 should be flown at an altitude of 435 km and that the orbit should be controlled by removing any insertion dispersions and drag effects with burns of the SL 2 CSM reaction control system after that spacecraft had rendezvoused and docked with SL-1. Additional Details: here....

"Let It Snow" Parody with a message to the crew in the lyrics of"Bring her home" meaning the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). Written and recorded by"The Prox Ops Boys", Dave Thompson, Mark Schrock, Brian Bertrand, Steve Walker, Ted Rickerl, and Greg Schrage. From the Mission Operations Directorate's Orbit Dynamics (aka Prox Ops) Office

On 10.01.94 at 1050 UTC Soyuz-TM18 docked to the Mir-station. Approach and docking took place in the automatic mode by the use of the system Kurs. During Mir's pass in orbit 45144 (1138-1147 UTC) the approach was going on. Afanasyev watched the behaviour of Soyuz-TM18 on his monitor. He had to be alert to take over manually, but this was not necessary. Soyuz-TM18 approached and docked smoothly. During the approach the transmitter of Mir and of the Soyuz-TM18 as well could be heard. During the pass in the next orbit (45145, 1315-1323 UTC) the hatch was opened and the enthusiastic welcome and greetings of both crews could be monitored. The following pass (orb. 45146, 1448-1459 UTC) Serebrov spoke a word of welcome and reported that mood and health of the newcomers were excellent. For Dr. Polyakov reason to gather blood samples from the cosmonauts to be able to confirm this scientifically.

The 5 men will work together during the next 3 days and the old crew (Mir Main expedition nr. 14) will then hand over the station to the 15th Main expedition.

On 14.01.1994 Tsibliyev and Serebrov will return to earth in the Soyuz-TM17.

The 15th Main Expedition will last until 6.07.1994, so 177 days. Then Afanasyev and Usachev will be relieved by Malenchenko, Musabayev and Strekalov. Strekalov will return with the relieved crew. Dr. Polyakov will remain on board until spring 1995 (427 days) to conduct medical experiments aimed at the long-lasting flights to Mars.

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

On 11.01.1995 between 0900 and 0925 UTC the Soyuz-TM20 flew autonomously to test the Kurs-approach and docking system at the forward transition section (P.Kh.O.) of the Mir-complex. Problems during some docking operations in Aug/Sept 1994 (Progress-M24) and on 6.10.1994 (Soyuz-TM20) made this operation necessary. Long before Soyuz-TM20 separated from the complex the whole crew was on board of that ship and thoroughly tested all systems. According to the plan the Soyuz-TM20 executed the approach and docking fully automatically by use of the Kurs system. Viktorenko, assisted by Kondakova, was ready to take over manually if something went wrong or in case of a too high fuel consumption. Soyuz-TM20 perfectly linked to the station at 09.24.57 UTC, the aberrations remained far within the limits, just before docking less than 0.5 degrees. The good functioning of the Kurs systems is indispensable for the execution of the program for this year. During the operation with the Soyuz-TM20 the radio traffic went via the geostationary Altair. During the separation Soyuz-TM20 flew within our range and the traffic could be monitored on 121.750 mc as well as via Altair.

Luch-1:

This geostationary satellite to be used for Mir-TsUP communications in the near future is standing over 95 degrees East, but is not yet operational for TDRS purposes.

Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202

The Expedition Four crew is completing its fifth week in space aboard the International Space Station, continuing preparations for the first spacewalk of the five-month mission. The six-hour spacewalk by Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Carl Walz is scheduled to begin at 2:56 p.m. CST, Monday, Jan. 14. This week, with the assistance of their crewmate, Flight Engineer Dan Bursch, the two spacewalkers outfitted and tested their Russian Orlan spacesuits and prepared the tools and equipment they will use on Monday. Additional Details: here....

Initially planned for launch on Delta 4M+ (4,2). Launch delayed from January 10. Placed in geosynchronous orbit but reports indicated there were problems deploying one of the solar panels. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 63.07W drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

The FY-1C satellite, launched on 10 May 1999, was presumably well past the end of its operational life. It was destroyed in a test of a Chinese ASAT weapon at an altitude of 850 km, 4 degrees west of Xichang. Launch vehicle was unknown, but a version of the DF-21 IRBM would be sufficient to reach that altitude. Reportedly the flight had been preceded by one to three earlier tests that were either failures or just aimed at a point in space. The program was apparently very secret, and the Chinese foreign ministry was caught by surprise by the test and the storm of international condemnation that followed. The FY-1C was blown into over 200 pieces of debris, adding immediately by 10% to the population of space junk that threatens lower-altitude satellites.

CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani started out with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the SLEEP session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. Additional Details: here....