'The Lundin Committee completed its study of various vehicle systems for the manned lunar landing mission, as requested on May 25 by NASA associate Administrator Robert C. Seamans, Jr. The Committee had considered alternative methods of rendezvous: earth orbit, lunar orbit, a combination of earth and lunar orbit, and lunar surface. Launch vehicles studied were the Saturn C-2 and C-3. Conclusion was that 43,000 kg stage (85% fuel) was needed for a lunar landing mission. The concept of a low- altitude earth orbit rendezvous using two or three C-3's was clearly preferred by the Committee. Reasons for this preference were the small number of launches and orbital operations required and the fact that the Saturn C- 3 was considered to be an efficient launch vehicle of great utility and future growth.

The launch of Vostok 5 is set for 11 June. Final training and consultations are under way. Korolev is not happy with the condition of the spacecraft. At 22:30 in the evening the launch is scrubbed when Keldysh calls from Moscow and advises excessive solar flare activity is expected. Keldysh will review the data tomorrow and advise if it really poses a danger to the cosmonauts.

Air Force Space Systems Division's cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with Martin for 15 Gemini launch vehicles (GLV) and associated aerospace ground equipment was replaced by a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract. Contract negotiations had been conducted between March 15 and April 30, 1964. The final contract contained cost, performance, and schedule incentives. Target cost was $111 million and target fee was $8.88 million. The maximum fee possible under the contract was $16.65 million as against a minimum of $3.33 million. The period of performance under the contract was July 1, 1963, through December 31, 1967, and covered the delivery of 14 GLVs (one GLV had already been delivered) and associated equipment and services, including checkout and launch.

The VPK Military-Industrial Commission issues a decree on the schedule for the rest of 1969. There are to be five launches of Ye-8-5 lunar soil return robots, on 14 June, 13 and 28 July, 25 August, and 25 September. There are to be two launches of Ye-8 Lunokhod robot rovers on 22 October and 21 November. Further manned L1 flights are cancelled. There are no plans made for the L3 since the N1 is not ready.

Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard announced the cancellation of the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program because of the need to reduce defense spending. The cancellation was expected to save $ 1.5 billion of the projected total $ 3.0 billion program costs. The SLC-6 launch facility at Vandenberg, 90% complete, would be finished and mothballed. MOL reconnaisance systems useful on unmanned satellites would be completed for a total cost of $ 225 million. Ten thousand aerospace workers were laid off as a result of the cancellation. The program was initiated in 1965 to advance the development of both manned and unmanned defense-oriented space equipment and to ascertain the full extent of man's utility in space for defense purposes. Following MOL termination, NASA requested that the MOL food and diet contract with Whirlpool Corporation and the space suit development contract with Hamilton Standard Division, United Aircraft Corporation, be transferred to NASA.

All normal aboard Salyut 1. It is established that Soyuz 11 has enough propellant remaining for 57 hours of autonomous flight, including orientation and retrofire. It is decided to ask the crew to conduct a couple of experiments with the 'globus' instrument on the station to determine the accuracy of its landing point prediction.

Maritime communications. 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 176 deg E in 1976-1991 over the Pacific Ocean 178 deg W in 1991-1996 As of 5 September 2001 located at 158.48 deg W drifting at 15.761 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 162.62W drifting at 15.745W degrees per day.

First Multi-Orbit Satellite / Performance Improvement ballistic missile launch detection satellite, remained in service for nearly six years. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Pacific Ocean at 135 deg W in 1979-1982; 85 deg W in 1982-1984; 135 deg W in 1984; 125 deg W in 1985..

Stationed at 345 deg E. Provision of telephone and telegraph radiocommunications and television broadcasting. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 14 deg W in 1986-1989; 40 deg E in 1989-1990 As of 28 August 2001 located at 84.75 deg E drifting at 0.265 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 45.79E drifting at 0.142E degrees per day.

A second vehicle to test autonomous parasail spacecraft recovery was fabricated with the same external geometry and weight as Wedge 1. It was dropped from a Cessna U-206 and a Rans S-12 ultralight. A total of 36 flight tests were made, the last taking place on February 12, 1993. These flights verified the manual control and autonomous landing systems of the vehicle. Phase II of the program ran from March 1993 to March 1995, and encompassed 45 flights.

Stationed at 21.5 deg W. Intelsat K is a single spacecraft purchased to meet critical requirements for Ku-band capacity over the Atlantic region, driven primarily by international broadcasters. The satellite was purchased from GE Americom while under construction (as Satcom K4) and required extensive payload modifications. Spacecraft: Based on GE 5000 series bus.3-axis stabilised using magnetotorquers. Hydrazine propulsion system. Two large solar panels with 1-axis articulation provide 4800 W BOL.4 50 Ahr NiH batteries. Payload: 16 Ku-band transponders which can be configured into 32 high quality television channels. Permits access from ground antennas 1.2 meters dia. and smaller. Launch vehicle put payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit with GCS trajectory option. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 21 deg W in 1992-1999 As of 6 September 2001 located at 21.54 deg W drifting at 0.011 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 160.51W drifting at 11.137W degrees per day.

After that it was moved several times by the small manipulator arm on Mir to accommodate the addition of the Spektr module to the station and to allow rendezvous with the US Shuttle at Kristall's main docking port. The module was transferred to its final location at the Mir transfer compartment's starboard radial port on July 17, 1995.

Geosynchronous weather satellite; also known as FY-2B. Operated in geosynchronous orbit at 105 deg E in 1997-2000; 85 deg E in 2000.. The FY-2A stopped transmission in April 1998 but was put back into partial operation in December 1998. Its imager then failed completely on 30 September 1998 and it was retired in April 2000. As of 4 September 2001 located at 83.55 deg E drifting at 0.074 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 58.96E drifting at 0.025W degrees per day.

The spacecraft was delivered to its final orbit in a complex series of five engine burns by three rocket stages. The Delta's second stage demonstrated its restart capability in 4 burns: Burn 1 placed the rocket and payload into a low circular orbit; Burn 2 raised the apogee to 1400 km; Burn 3 circularised the orbit at 1400 km. The second stage then separated, and Burn 4 lowered the spent stage's perigee to a low altitude to ensure the stage would decay quickly and not add to the space junk already on orbit. Stage 3 burned once to place the payload and its kick motor into a high 1400 km perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit. The Stage 4 Star 30 apogee kick motor circularised the spacecraft's orbit at geostationary altitude. Geostationary at 0.8 degrees W. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 1 deg W in 1998-1999 As of 4 September 2001 located at 0.83 deg W drifting at 0.000 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 0.85W drifting at 0.002W degrees per day.

Launch delayed from May 2002. The Ekspress A1R Russian domestic communications satellite was built by NPO PM and Alcatel for Kosmicheskiya Svyaz, the Russian satcom operator. The Proton's parking orbit was off-nominal but the 11S861-01 Blok DM-2M upper stage corrected for this and delivered the payload to the correct orbit. Parking orbit was about 180 x 185 km x 51.6 deg; transfer orbit after the first DM-2M burn was 328 x 36133 km x 47.4 deg; orbit at spacecraft separation was 36102 x 36171 km x 0.2 deg. Two SOZ ullage motors were left in the transfer orbit. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 14.07W drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.

Aboard the International Space Station this week, the eleventh Expedition crew spent the latter part of its second month in space preparing for the arrival of new cargo as its commander quietly slipped into second place on the all-time human space endurance list. Additional Details: here....

Internal spacewalk in a depressurized Zvezda module to reconfigure it. The spacesuited crew entered the forward transfer comparment of Zvezda and closed the hatches to Zarya and to the aft compartments of Zvezda. The transfer compartment was then depressurized at 06:22 GMT. Then a flat cover on the zenith hatch was removed and stowed on top of the Pirs hatch, leaving the port open to space. The no-longer-required docking cone on the port leading to Zarya was removed installed on the zenith port, preparing it for arrival of the new MIM-2 research/docking module later in the year. The transfer compartment was repressurized at 07:11 GMT.

Argentinian 'Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-D' satellite. Carried NASA Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer map sea salinity; a Ka-band microwave radiometer; a an infrared scanner to measure sea surface temperature; a high sensitivity camera to study light sources at night; and an Italian experiment which measured atmospheric deflection of GPS signals to determine air temperature and humidity.