Following an aborted attempt on 29 September, Winkler launches his HW-2 rocket from Pillau on the Baltic. He had worked for months at the Raketenflugplatz developing the new device. However on launch day an explosive propellant mix developed in the internal compartments of the rocket, and after igniting and rising only 3 m, it was blown to smithereens.

The Prespacecraft Mate Combined Systems Test (CST) of Gemini launch vehicle 2 was completed at complex 19. This test, similar to CST performed at the Martin plant, comprised an abbreviated countdown and simulation of flight events, with a simulator representing electrical characteristics of the spacecraft; its purpose was to establish confidence in the launch vehicle. Electrical Electronic Interference Tests were completed October 12. Hurricane Isbell threatened the area on October 14-15, but its path was far enough south of the Cape to make deerection unnecessary, though testing was curtailed.

Unmanned test of Voskhod spacecraft. At 07:00 the State Commission meets at Area 2. All Chief Designers, Commanders, and Section report that all is ready for flight. The commission gives the order to proceed with the launch. Weather at the pad is 7 balls, 8-10 m/s wind with gusts to 15 m/s, temperature 9 to 12 deg C. Weather in the recovery zones is reported as winds up to 15 m/s. Weather in the recovery zone is not clear, but that is not considered an impediment, and in fact Kamanin would like to see how the landing system functions in bad conditions. Kamanin visits the pad at T-30 seconds; at T-20 seconds, the veranda at IP-1 has over 50 viewers of the launch, including 15 cosmonaut candidates and the 7 Voskhod cosmonauts. Kamanin is relegated to the IP-1 veranda this time, with Rudenko, Kirillov, and Tyulin the bunker adjacent to the pad. Korolev stays with the booster until T-5 minutes, then enters the bunker. The booster ignites precisely at 10:00; the strap-ons burn out and are jettisoned at T+120 seconds; the core burns out and the final stage ignites at T+290 seconds; and at T+523 seconds spacecraft 3KV number 2 is placed in orbit as the final stage shuts down. The spacecraft separates and all systems look normal.

Recovered October 7, 1964 7:28 GMT. Officially: Investigation of the upper atmosphere and outer space.

They need to complete 70 drops, which normally would take five to six months. Mishin still insists that they be completed by 1 November. Three tests are made in one day, a record, including the drop of a Soyuz mock-up at 17:55 from an An-12. The parachute deployed correctly, but the soft landing system fired at 2000 m instead of 1.2 m. The spacecraft hit the ground on its side at 8 m/s. Because of the angle of impact the crew seat shock absorbers couldn't function. If any cosmonauts had been aboard, they would have suffered serious trauma.

Meeting between the Soyuz 6/7/8 crews and engineers. Shatalov pushes his idea for a manually flown spacecraft rendezvous, provided that Soyuz 7 and 8 visually acquire each other immediately after Soyuz 8 is put into orbit. He believes this would not only save time and fuel, but also provide the chance to develop procedures for interception of non-cooperative enemy satellites. Mishin rejects the idea, seeing a doubling of risk of an unsuccessful flight. The fact is, the Soyuz is only equipped for automatic docking. There are no on-board indicators of range and range-rate to target - necessary inputs for any manual docking. The view through the periscope is the only forward-looking view available to the crew, and it is inadequate for manual docking. Additional Details: here....

Kamanin reviews the work of the training centre in 1970-1971. There are 12 cosmonauts training for DOS missions; 22 for Almaz; 5 for Spiral; and a 'group' for the L3. They have flown 5000 flight hours in jet trainers. During the last two years Kamanin has increased the number of trainers and simulators available; achieved 100% of the training plan; and met the physical training requirements (all cosmonauts must accomplish a 10 km run).

Meeting with the Spiral spaceplane cosmonaut training group. Mikoyan and Dementiev (son of the MAP Minister) have been working on this project for four years. Many in the leadership (Grechko, Zakharov, Krylov, etc) are against the concept and hinder the project in any way the can. Grechko considers it 'a fantasy' and Kutakhov does not support it energetically. Engineer-Colonel Sokolov-Sokolenik is the head of the unit (having replaced Titov, who is now in staff school). The United States has hundreds of flights on the X-15, which they have taken to 90 km altitude and 7000 km/hour airspeed. In the Soviet Union, all such work has been frozen for a decade.

University of Surrey research microsatellite. Radio science; also carried amateur radio package. Communication and geophysics research satellite. Launch time 1127 GMT. Also registered by the United States in ST/SG/SER.E/59, with category D and orbital parameters 95.3 min, 531 x 533 km x 97.5 deg. UoSAT-OSCAR 9 was launched piggyback with Solar Mesosphere Explorer satellite. Weight 52 kg. Box shaped 740 x 420 x 420 mm. Deployable gravity gradient boom. Firsts: First on-board computer (IHU - Integrated Housekeeping Unit) for battery and attitude management, remote control, and experiments. Built by the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, UO-9 was UoSAT's first experimental satellite. It was a scientific and educational low-Earth orbit satellite containing many experiments and beacons but no amateur transponders. UO-9 was fully operational until it re-entered October 13, 1989 from a decaying orbit after nine years of service.

Manned five crew. Deployed Ulysses spacecraft. Payloads: Deploy Ulysses, Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet, Intelsat Solar Array Coupon, Solid-Surface Combustion Experiment, Investigations Into Polymer Membrane Processing, Chromo-some and Plant Cell Division in Space, Physiological Systems Experiment, Voice Command System, Radiation Monitoring Equipment III, Air Force Maui Optical Site.

Deployed from STS 41 10/6/90; solar research. Ulysses is a scientific spacecraft, within the framework of the international solar/polar mission. It will be the first spacecraft to fly over the poles of the sun. Frequency 2111.6073/2293.1481 MHz, 8408.2099 MHz., interplanetary trajectory i nto a polar flyby over the sun. Designator ESA/90/01. Also registered by the United States in ST/SG/SER.E/250, orbital data are taken from that document.

Ionospheric, auroral, amgnetospheric studies. Freja is a Swedish/German satellite designed for research into the aurora. The satellite was launched piggyback on a Long March 2C (CZ-2C) rocket and weighs 214 kg in orbit. It is a sun-pointing spinner (10 rpm) with a 2.2 m diameter. It will make high re solution measurements in the upper ionosphere and lower magnetosphere. Data will be received at Esrange, Kiruna, Sweden and at the Prince Albert Satellite Station in Canada's Saskatchewan Province. Launch time 0620 UT.

38 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders. Initially positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 177 deg E in 1994-1996. Then reassigned to Intelsat subsidiary New Skies, redesignated NSS 703, and moved to 57 deg E after 1996. At the crossroads of three continents, NSS-703 provided cross-connectivity for Europe, Africa and Asia. NSS-703 was used for video contribution from Europe to India and Africa, and was capable of bringing signals from London to India and Australia in one hop. NSS-703's coverage included a global beam, and two C-band hemispheric beams, which covered Africa and the triangle from Eastern Iran to Japan and Australia, including all of India and China. Three steerable Ku-band spot beams targeted Europe and Iran, Central Asia and Afghanistan-Pakistan-North India. Expected end of life March 2009. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 56.96E drifting at 0.001E degrees per day.

The communications to and from the Mir during the link-up period of Atlantis and Mir demonstrated what we can expect when of the International Space station the Russian and American segments will be operational. For matters regarding the whole complex the American side will take care for the communications and traffic between the Russian segment and TsUP-M will only concern Russian matters (experiments, maintenance, advice, etc.) The lion's share of the communications went via Atlantis. During windows in which the Mir was able to communicate via Russian tracking facilities they only handled Russian matters. The communications between Mir and Atlantis took place via an intercom system. Sometimes Atlantis also took care of the Packet Radio traffic for Mir. During the link-up Mir seldom used the Altair-2 facility. Images of the approach of Atlantis and the EVA of Parazynski and Titov made from inside Mir were directly transmitted to earth via Russian tracking stations on UHF frequencies. Sometimes the comments on those images went via the VHF channel. On 28.09 Altair-2 was in use for the relay of video-recordings.

Progress-M36:

This freighter blasted off from Baykonur on 5.10.1997 at 15.08.57 UTC. All went well. The Progress-M36 will deliver the normal cargo: water, food, fuel, experiments and a spare computer. Among the repair material is a special glue ('germetik') to be used during the repair of the Spektr. Progress-M36 is expected to dock at Mir's aft docking port (Kvant-1 +X axis) on 7.10 at 1642 UTC.

Transmissions Progress-M36:

On 5.10 during the 3d orbit (1944-1946 UTC) Telemetry was heard in the 165 and 166 mc bands. During the 4th orbit (2114-2119 UTC) the signals in the 165 and 166 mc were very strong. The transmitter on 922.755mc was active during that pass. TCA was at 21.15.54 UTC

Progress-M35:

This old freighter is no longer needed and will separate from Mir on 6.10 at 1124 UTC for a short autonomous flight and decay in the atmosphere over a designated area in the Pacific East of New Zealand at 1424 UTC.

Mini-sputnik:

A small copy of Sputnik-1 will also be delivered by Progress-M36. During the next EVA of Solovyov and Vinogradov on 16.10.1997 this Sputnik will be 'launched' manually. This satellite will send 'bleeps' on a frequency in the 2 Meter amateur band to recall the launch of the first artificial earth satellite on 4.10.1957.

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

N-SAT-110, also known as Superbird 5, was jointly owned by SCC (Space Communications Corporation of Tokyo) and JSat (Japan Satellite Systems). SCC controlled the vehicle on orbit. The satellite carried 24 Ku-band transponders. By October 15 N-SAT-110 was in a 35610 x 35752 km x 0.1 deg orbit drifting past 109 deg E. Stationed at 110 deg E. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 110 deg E in 2000. As of 4 September 2001 located at 110.06 deg E drifting at 0.012 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 110.07E drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.

The Blok-DM2 upper stage put the Russian geosynchronous military communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit at 1755 GMT. A second burn at 2318 GMT to circularized the orbit at geostationary altitude. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 106.48E drifting at 9.104W degrees per day.

Suborbital test of the Demonstrator inflatable reentry technology test vehicle. The reentry vehicle could not be located in the Kamchatka Peninsula impact zone and was not recovered. Test delayed from the fourth quarter of 2003, then May and October 2004, then July 5, July 8, September 15, September 27, 2005.