BuAer Committee for Evaluating the Feasibility of Space Rocketry (CEFSR) held joint meeting with AAF representatives to work out joint satellite development program based on BuAer proposal. Nothing resulted until a subsequent Project Rand report and Navy CEFSR proposal were presented to RDB, Committee on Guided Missiles, Technical Evaluation Group in March 1948.

The first Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO) performed remarkably well in conducting the thirteen different experiments for which it was programmed. Especially relevant to manned space flight were its measurements of solar radiation in high frequency ranges, of cosmic dust effects, and of the thermal properties of spacecraft surface materials.

The Gemini Program Planning Board, meeting in Washington, agreed to the establishment of an ad hoc study group to compare NASA and Department of Defense (DOD) objectives for the Gemini program and to recommend DOD experiments for inclusion in the Gemini flight program. The group met in continuous session March 25 to April 26, presenting its final report to the board on May 6. The board then recommended that a program of inflight military experiments be immediately approved, that the Air Force establish a field office at Manned Spacecraft Center to manage DOD participation in the Gemini program in general and integration of experiments in particular, and that work on preventing longitudinal oscillations in stage I and combustion instability in stage II of the Gemini launch vehicle to be urgently pursued. The board declined to recommend additional flights in the Gemini program, as suggested by the study group, to encompass experiments that would not fit into the framework of the planned Gemini program. The Secretary of Defense and NASA Administrator concurred in the Board's recommendations.

Final design approval for Soyuz A spacecraft for earth orbit and circumlunar flight using orbital rendezvous, docking, and refuelling technques. Except for change of orbital module from cylindrical to spherical design, and changes to rendezvous radar tower arrangement, this design was essentially identical to the Soyuz 7K-OK that flew three years later. Additional Details: here....

The L1's SUS guidance system failed on re-entry. It hit the atmosphere precisely at the calculated time, but wasn't guided to generate lift and fly out of the atmosphere again. A ballistic re-entry would mean no recovery on Soviet soil, so the APO destruct system automatically blew up the capsule at 10 to 15 km altitude, 180-200 km off the African coast at Guinea.

Mishin certified to MAP on 5 March that the Soyuz parachute system development is complete, but Tkachayev has dissented, saying that the system was unreliable and overweight (this from the same chief designer that certified the previous design as having an 0.999 reliability!). The parachute trials will not be finished until May - meaning there will be no manned Soyuz launch in April. This problem is holding up the L1, L3, and Almaz projects as well.

In a White House release, President Nixon listed six specific objectives for the space program: continued exploration of the moon, exploration of the planets and the universe, substantial reductions in the cost of space operations, extension of man's capability to live and work in space, rapid expansion of the practical applications of space technology, and greater international cooperation in space.

The Skylab rescue mission was a definite NASA commitment. The hardware, procedures, documentation, and training would need to be available immediately after the launch of Skylab 2 for a potential rescue mission. To accomplish this requirement, the rescue mission would be treated as a separate mission in the Skylab Program. The rescue mission would be established as a standing agenda item for major boards and panels, and its status would be reviewed on a regular basis with other missions.

"Medley of Armed Forces anthems" sung by the U.S. Military Glee Club. The five person crew included Air Force -- Casper, Marine -- Allen, Army -- Gemar, Navy -- Thuot, and civilian Ivins. This is the first time all of the major Armed Forces were represented on once space mission, hence the medley.

After the loss of one Solid Fuel Oxygen Generator in the night from 23 to 24.02 the crew has been struggling along to keep the mini-atmosphere on board of the space station suitable for the needs of human beings. On 5.03 one of the Elektrons (possibly the 2d Elektron is out of order and has to be repaired with spare parts to be delivered by the next supply ship) showed a malfunction and so the crew had to use a part of the oxygen reserved for spacewalks to bridge the period until the repair of that Electron. They managed to get this Elektron operational again in the afternoon. The crew is very busy to secure the working of the life systems and this fact can be derived from radio traffic during every possible pass. Among the additional measures to maintain a liveable situation on board a lot of air hoses have been deployed to enhance the air circulation through the whole complex.

Communications: As it is not possible to communicate via the geostationary satellites every possible VHF-pass via tracking stations in Russia and the United States is fully utilised. In this way I can obtain a lot of information, but in fact this is rather poor in comparison to that what can be derived during the long sessions via Altair-1. For TV-sessions the Russians now use the direct links on lower frequencies via tracking stations. These sessions are shorter and have a rather poor quality, mostly black/white and often the accompanying speech goes via the normal VHF-downlink.

Progress-M33: It has been decided not to try a second attempt to redock Progress-M33 at Mir. The Progress-M33 will be put on a destruction course on 11 or 12.03.1997 and burn up in the atmosphere over a designated area in the Pacific East of New-Zealand.

Progress-M34: The Russians are still waiting for the disposal of a rocket for this launch. This certainly will not be earlier than 25.03.1997. They hope to launch the Progress-M34 on 6.04.1997. Among a lot of other supplies this Progress has to deliver a replacement for the Antares transceiver (uplink to Luches) and spare parts and materials for the repairs of the defective life support systems.

Spacewalk (EVA): The Russians still hope that Tsibliyev and Linenger will be able to do an EVA. For the time being 17.04.1997 is on schedule.

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

Flight Time: 3.3 hours Pilot: Melvill Copilot: Cory Bird. Objectives: Revised ECS configuration evaluation. Multiple SFO (simulated flame out) approaches to assess updated flight director steering cues. Results: New ECS configuration results encouraging. Engines returned to depot facility for second overhaul repair.

Upon wake-up, FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko terminated his MBI-12 SONOKARD experiment session (his 11th), started last night, by taking the recording device from his SONOKARD sports shirt pocket and later copying the measurements to the RSE-MED laptop for subsequent downlink to the ground. Additional Details: here....

Used a 0.95-meter aperture differential photometer with a 105 deg2 field of view to constantly view 145,000 main-sequence stars, detecting planets orbiting around those stars when the planets passed in front of them, dimming them during transit. In its first three years of operation, Kepler detected over 2,000 possible planets, and it was determined that 5.4% of all stars host Earth-size planet candidates, and that 17% of all stars had planets.