As a complement to the Mercury spacecraft reliability program, a decision was made that one production spacecraft would be withdrawn from the operational program for extensive testing. The test environment would involve vacuum, heat, and vibration conditions. This test series was later designated 'Project Orbit.'

Kamanin notes that the US launched 86 satellites up to June 1, 1962 compared to only 21 by the USSR. He believes the Soviet reply should be a vigorous program that would launch 10 to 12 Vostok manned spacecraft in 1963 alone; to finally resolve organisational issues that hindered the Soviet program; and to adopt a goal of landing a man on the moon.

How the decision was reached on who would be the first man to step out onto the moon was reported in a letter by ASPO Manager George M. Low: "Some time during the middle of the night, I had a call from Associated Press informing me that they had a story that Neil Armstrong had pulled rank on Buzz Aldrin to be the first man on the surface of the moon. They wanted to know whether it was true and how the decision was reached concerning who would get out of the LM first.

"To the best of my recollection, I gave the following information:

"a. There had been many informal plans developed during the past several years concerning the lunar timeline. These probably included all combinations of one man out versus two men out, who gets out first, etc.

"b. There was only one approved plan and that was established 2 to 4 weeks prior to our public announcement of this planning. I believe that this was in April 1969.

"c. The basic decision was made by my Configuration Control Board. It was based on a recommendation by the Flight Crew Operations Directorate. I am sure that Armstrong had made an input to this recommendation, but he, by no means, had the final say. The CCB decision was final."

The shocking news of rocket engine designer Isayev's premature death is received at the Soyuz 11 control point at Yevpatoriya. This is followed by the news that the third N1 failed 57 seconds into its flight. A total of 13 N1's were built, and all three launched so far have exploded. Kamanin agreed to cancellation of the entire project three years ago, but Ustinov, Smirnov, Keldysh, and Mishin continued in their grandiose charade, wasting billions of roubles in the process. Meanwhile on the 22nd day of Soyuz 11's flight, the crew is up and about. Volkov is especially active, which should improve his readaptation when he returns to earth.

An Atlas booster launched SEASAT-A, a NASA satellite. The purpose of the mission was to evaluate the use of microwave instruments to obtain oceanographic data. The launch was successful, but the satellite ceased functioning because of an electrical short after 99 days of operation. Oceanographic. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).

Manned two crew. Fourth space shuttle test flight. Payloads: Induced Environment Contamination Monitor (IECM), Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR), Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES), Development Flight Instrumentation (DFl), Orbiter Experiments (OEX), first NASA getaway special (GAS), Night/Day Optical Survey of Lightning (NOSL) experiment, Vapor Phase Compression (VPC) freezer heat exchanger dynamics for freezing samples, Aerodynamic Coefficient Identification Package (AClP) experiment.

Launch of this freighter still on schedule for 30 June 1992. Russian spaceflight authorities now have to take in account interests and feelings of the population, about which they - under protection of the former Soviet Mil. Industrial complex- never bothered. The people living in the Novosibirsk area always feared launches from Baykonur. After launches parts of the rockets (1st stages, hatches, etc.) fall down in that area. Thus far no accidents or damages have been reported -this in contradiction to the ground track areas in Kazakhstan-, but people is always aware of space-launch hazards. To cultivate more goodwill and understanding for space-flight the Baykonur launch-site authorities invited representatives of the administration, civil defence and press of the Novosibirsk region to attend the launch of Progress-M13 on the spot.

EXTRA VEHICULAR ACTIVITY (SPACEWALK):

This EVA will take place on 8 or 10 July 1992. The work to be done by the cosmonauts during that EVA is crucial for the operational existence of the Mir complex. 4 of the 6 gyrodynes in Module-D are out of order and so the attitude control of the complex is working unsatisfactorily. For the repair work during the next EVA equipment and tools have to be delivered to Mir by Progress-M13 on 2 July 1992. In the future more work to restore the SUD (movements control system) must be done. For a provisional solution (to keep control on the roll, X- axis, of the complex)f the next crew (Solovyov and Avdeyev) will have to install the VDU (external movements control motor) in the top of the Sofora girder.

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

Mir Expedition EO-19. Transferred Budarin, Solovyov to Mir, returned Soyuz TM-21 crew to Earth. After undocking from Mir on July 4, Atlantis spent several days on orbit, carrying out medical research work with the Spacelab-Mir module in the cargo bay. Payloads: Shuttle/Mir Mission 1, Spacelab-Mir, IMAX camera, Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX).

Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA International Space Station Science Officer Ed Lu today wrapped up a busy week of station and science activities as they approached the end of their eighth week on the ISS. Lu performed another run of the InSPACE experiment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox while Malenchenko spent some time loading the Progress 10, docked to the rear of the Zvezda Service Module, with station discards. Additional Details: here....

Optical surveillance satellite. First launch into this inclination since 1994. Probably jettisoned two recoverable film capsules during the mission. Six reboosts during the mission maintained a 210 km x 250 km observation orbit. The main spacecraft landed at 20:48 GMT on 24 October.

First Kondor satellite, part of a new system of optical and radar military surveillance satellites; payload on this mission reportedly an S-band synthetic apperture radar with a swath width of 10 km and ground resolution of 1 m in spotlight mode, 3 m in stripmap mode, and 5-30 m in ScanSAR mode.