Composition, cosmic radiation research. Launched at 0009 local time. Reached 137.3 km.

Council of Soviet Ministers (SM) Decree 292-181 'On New Range for the USSR Ministry of Defence-establishment of NIIP-5 at Tyura-Tam' was issued.

Successfully fired at 1954 hours EST from AMR. The flight was successful in that all missions were accomplished, with the exception of the Hardtack adaptation kit mission. Impact was 258 meters over and 172 meters to the left of the predicted impact point, a radial miss distance of 310 meters. The primary objectives of the test were to test the warhead and fuse system and the guidance system. Missed aimpoint by 310 m.

Venera 1 was the first spacecraft to fly by Venus. The 6424 kg assembly was launched first into a 229 x 282 km parking orbit, then boosted toward Venus by the restartable Molniya upper stage. On 19 February, 7 days after launch, at a distance of about two million km from Earth, contact with the spacecraft was lost. On May 19 and 20, 1961, Venera 1 passed within 100,000 km of Venus and entered a heliocentric orbit. This failure resulted in only the following objectives being met: checking of methods of setting space objects on an interplanetary course; checking of extra-long-range communications with and control of the space station; more accurate calculation of the dimension of the solar system; a number of physical investigations in space. - Additional details.

NASA selected the Marion Power Shovel Company to design and build the crawler-transport, a device to haul the Apollo space vehicle (Saturn V, complete with spacecraft and associated launch equipment) from the Vertical Assembly Building to the Merritt Island, Fla., launch pad, a distance of about 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles). The crawler would be 39.6 meters (130 feet) long, 35 meters (115 feet) wide, and 6 meters (20 feet) high, and would weight 2.5 million kilograms (5.5 million pounds). NASA planned to buy two crawlers at a cost of $4 to 5 million each. Formal negotiations began on February 20 and the contract was signed on March 29.

Originally scheduled for April, the launch date was delayed by a decision to rewire the Mercury-Atlas flight control system, as a result of the launch vehicle checkout at the plant inspection meeting.

VVS officers meet with O G Ivanovskiy for two hours. The Communist Party plans a lunar expedition in the 1968-1970 period. For this the N1 booster will be used, which has a low earth orbit payload of 72 tonnes. The minimum spacecraft to take a crew to the lunar surface and back will have a minimum payload of 200 tonnes; therefore three N1 launches will be required to launch components, which will have to be assembled in orbit. However all of these plans are only on paper, and Kamanin does not see any way the Soviet Union can beat the Americans to the moon, who are already flying Apollo hardware for that mission.

Director of Flight Operations Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., told the Manned Spacecraft Center senior staff that the Gemini-Titan (GT) 3 mission might be flown between March 22 and 25, although it was officially scheduled for the second quarter of 1965. In addition, the Houston control center was being considered for use in the GT-4 mission.

FU100 Technology / Ptr mission.

Once again the primary Tral system aboard the spacecraft has failed, and it will take 7 to 8 days to replace. Korolev, Kamanin, and the other leaders return to Moscow.

Development of systems for air defence and the control of outer space.

Kamanin states his belief that the L1 will not be ready for manned flight for 2 to 3 years, and will need 8 unmanned flight tests before it can be man-rated. Others disagree, and the final decision is that four unmanned flights without significant failure will be required before the spacecraft is man-rated.

The rocket carried a Naval Research Laboratory payload to 187.9-km altitude to record photographically 18 extreme ultraviolet spectra of solar photosphere, chromosphere, and corona, using a flight design verification unit of the high-resolution spectrograph planned for ATM-A and ATM-B. Rocket and instruments performed satisfactorily.

High resolution photo reconnaissance satellite; returned film capsule; maneuverable.

Investigation of the upper atmosphere and outer space.

High resolution photo reconnaissance satellite; returned film capsule; maneuverable.

The government decree 132-51 authorising development of the Energia-Buran system was titled 'On development of an MKS (reusable space system) consisting of rocket stages, orbiter aircraft, inter-orbital tug, guidance systems, launch and landing facilities, assembly and repair facilities, and other associated facilities, with the objective of placing in a 200 km Northeast orbit a payload of 30 tonnes and returning a payload of 20 tonnes'. The Ministry of Defence was named the Program Manager, with NPO Energia as the prime contractor. The official military specification (TTZ) was issued at the same time with the code name Buran.

ASAT target. Beginning of test of 'second generation' ASAT interceptor. Objective was to complete test series by 1978 ABM treaty date.

Test mission of Okean satellite without the radar. Development of methods for obtaining operational information on the Pacific Ocean.

Left in parking orbit. Decay date suspect Investigation of the upper atmosphere and outer space. Was intended to cover Oko constellation plane 9 - 241 degree longitude of ascending node.

Military navigation satellite. Replaced Cosmos 1104.

Stationed at 117 deg E. BS-2b (Yuri-2b). Domestic satellite broadcasting; development of broadcasting satellite technology. Launching organization NASDA. N launch vehicle flight no 14. Launch time 0755 GMT. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 110 deg E in 1986-1991 As of 5 September 2001 located at 13.60 deg W drifting at 3.524 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 77.04E drifting at 3.551W degrees per day.

Training group of Afghan 'guest cosmonauts' for a propaganda flight to the Mir space station.

Eight satellites launched by a single carrier rocket.

Six satellites launched by a single carrier rocket. The space objects served the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.

China planned to launch its own re-usable "space shuttle" with a maiden unmanned mission at the end of next year, said an astronomical engineer in charge of one of dozens of scientific research payloads that will be aboard. The engineer said the lift-capacity problems have already been resolved and he had been briefed on the cost of the Chinese shuttle but that he could not reveal it, as the information is classified. (AFP)

Geosynchronous communications satellite for the ACES consortium (PSN of Indonesia, PLDT of the Phillipines, Lockheed Martin, and Jasmine of Thailand). The satellite had two large 12-m diameter L-band antennae for cellular telephone relay. Stationed at 123 deg E. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 123 deg E in 2000. As of 5 September 2001 located at 122.97 deg E drifting at 0.023 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 123.10E drifting at 0.005W degrees per day.

STS-98 EVA-2 began at 1555 GMT on February 12 with depressurization of the airlock. The astronauts went to battery power at 1559 GMT. The PMA-2 docking port was attached to Destiny at 1728 GMT. The Power Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF) was removed from its location on an adaptive payload carrier on the port side of the payload bay (probably bay 5P) and installed on Destiny. The PDGF will be used by the Station's robot arm, and is an improved grapple fixture with electrical power and data ports. The hatch was closed at 2240 GMT and the airlock was repressurized at 2249 GMT

Periapsis of the orbit was as low as 24 km above the surface of the asteroid during its final days. At the end of its mission, NEAR touched down on the surface of Eros at 20:01:52 GMT on 12 February 2001. The spacecraft obtained 69 high-resolution images before touchdown, the final image showing an area 6 meters across. NEAR apparently came to rest with the camera and gamma-ray spectrometer pointing towards the ground and the solar panels and low gain antenna pointing generally towards the Earth and Sun. NEAR was not designed as a lander, but survived the low-velocity, low-gravity impact, a signal continued after the "landing" using the omni-directional low-gain antenna as a beacon.

Return to flight of Ariane 5 EC-A after booster failure on first launch. Delayed from April, June, September 28, October 28, November 3 and 8, 2004; and February 11, 2005. XTAR-EUR was a Spanish X-band military communications satellite operated by Hisdesat/XTAR of Spain. It had a dry mass of 1412 kg and 2219 kg of propellant. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 28.95E drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

Maqsat was a test payload built by Kayser-Threde to study the Ariane 5ECA launch environment. Remained attached to the upper stage.

Test satellite to study the sloshing of fluids in zero gravity, developed by the Netherlands Aerospace Laboratory. Equipped with a tank with 33.5 liters of water and an attitude control system.

Auroral