Bell flight 2. Planned as powered flight, but completed as glide flight following propellant-system difficulties.

NACA established "Round Three" Steering Committee to study feasiblity of a hypersonic boost-glide research airplane. "Round Three" was considered as the third major flight research program which started with the X-series of rocket-propelled supersonic research airplanes, and which considered the X-15 research airplane as the second major program. The boost-glide program eventually became known as DynaSoar.

19,861 acres of South Camp Cooke transferred from the Army to the Navy on interim permit basis (actual transfer on 27 May).

A report entitled, 'Basic Objectives of a Continuing Program of Scientific Research in Outer Space,' was presented by the IGY Committee. The committee was of the opinion that the need for space research would be required far past the close of the IGY in December 1958.

NASA Nike-Cajun rocket launched from Wallops Station, carrying 60-pound payload ejecting explosive charges, which fired at intervals from 20- to 80-mile altitude to provide data on density of the atmosphere.

Unfavorable weather conditions caused the Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) manned orbital mission to be postponed.

Experimental commsat; lost contact following orbital injection. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Four score. Last known longitude (10 March 1987) 172.58 deg E drifting at 2.429 deg E per day.

MSC ordered North American to design the SM's reaction control system with the capability for emergency retrograde from earth orbit.

Following Korolev's death, Mishin discovered that growth of the mass of the L3 payload had taken the low earth orbit payload requirement to 95 tonnes, beyond the 75 tonne lifting capability of the N1. To achieve the 95 tonne payload, changes in plans and redesign of the N1 would be necessary. The measures taken were: reduction of the orbital inclination for the initial earth orbit from 65 degrees to 52 degrees; reduce the altitude of the lunar orbit from 300 km to 220 km; increase the propellant mass by supercooling the propellants prior to loading in the lunach vehicle (the kerosene to be at -15 to -20 degrees Centigrade, the liquid oxygen to -191 degrees centigrade); add six engines to the first stage; increase thrust of all the engines on the first, second, and third stages by 2%; add a fourth stabilizer. The result of all of these measures would increase the launch mass to 2800 tonnes and the payload to the required 95 tonnes.

MOL major subcontractors announced by prime contractor Douglas: Republic for the waste management system; Marquardt for 45 kgf and 20 kgf orientation thrusters; IBM for computers; Garrett for ECS; Scientific Data Systems for ground support equipment.

Ministry of General Machine Building (MOM) Decree 'On construction of the N1 payload fairing by the Khrunichev Plant' was issued.

Studied the influence of the ionosphere on passing VLF radio waves.

In discussing the results of a manned test with MSC Director Robert R. Gilruth, George M. Low mentioned that a single 45-degree motion of the abort handle was required to initiate a launch abort in Apollo. Gilruth voiced concern that an abort could be caused by a single motion. - Additional details.

Kamanin meets with TsKBEM (Tregub, Anokhin) to review issues for the Soyuz 9 mission. These include post-flight care of the cosmonauts, the fact the centrifuge is not available for training, storage of rations and the possibility of spoilage during the long flight.

Soft landed on Moon; returned soil samples to Earth. Landed on Moon 21 February 1972 at 19:19:00 GMT, Latitude 3.57 N, Longitude 56.50 E - Mare Fecunditatis. Luna 20 was placed in an intermediate earth parking orbit and from this orbit was sent towards the Moon. It entered lunar orbit on February 18, 1972. On 21 February 1972, Luna 20 soft landed on the Moon in a mountainous area known as the Apollonius highlands, 120 km from where Luna 18 had crashed. While on the lunar surface, the panoramic television system was operated. Lunar samples were obtained by means of an extendable drilling apparatus. The ascent stage of Luna 20 was launched from the lunar surface on 22 February 1972 carrying 30 grams of collected lunar samples in a sealed capsule. It landed in the Soviet Union on 25 February 1972. The lunar samples were recovered the following day.

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

Solar Maximum Mission; solar observatory; repaired 4/9/84 by STS-41C in orbit. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).

Optical investigations of ionosphere. EXOS-C (OHZORA). Optical study of the stratosphere and middle atmosphere. Study of the specific phenomena of the ionospheric plasma over the southern Atlantic geomagnetic anomaly zone which was discovered by the third scientific satellite 'TAIYO'. Launch vehicle Mu-3S-4, launching organization ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science). Launch time 0800 GMT.

Launch vehicle test. Mass model of Orlets-2 reconnaissance satellite.

Covered Oko constellation plane 4 - 32 degree longitude of ascending node.

Released 10 Romb radar calibration subsatellites.

First launch of second generation / operational Global Positioning System. Placed in Plane E Slot 1 of the constellation. Suffered a shutdown of its onboard reaction wheels on March 26, 2000. Decommissioned on April 14, 2000 and replaced by GPS 2R-4.

Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment for SDIO. Research and exploration of the upper atmosphere and outer space. The McDonnell Douglas Corporation has provided the following information for its launch of the Losat spacecraft on 14 Feb 1990: LACE spacecraft (Losat-L), launch time 1615:00.626 GMT, ETR Launch Complex 17. Programmed orbital parameters 95.6 min, apogee 551 km, inc. 43.1 deg. Evaluate laser beam distortion in space.

Relay Mirror Experiment; also known as Losat-R. RME validated stabilization, tracking, and pointing technologies for Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) missions through a credible demonstration of a space-based relay mirror system. The Wideband Angular Vibration Experiment (WAVE) measured low-level angular vibrations affecting performance of acquisition, tracking, and pointing systems. The experiment demonstrated that a laser beam can be accurately relayed from the earth to an orbiting satellite 450 kilometers away and then back to a 3-meter target on the ground. It achieved relay beam pointing accuracy which was 16 times better than the technical requirement. WAVE demonstrated the capability to discern platform disturbance amplitudes of a few nanoradians at discrete frequencies and is therefore a candidate to fulfill similar requirements for future ATP experiments.

Geosynchronous ballistic missile early warning satellite. First launch of improved second generation version. Declared purpose: 'Investigation of outer space and of processes occurring in the Earth's atmosphere'. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 80 deg E in 1991; 24 deg W in 1992-1993; 80 deg E in 1993-1995 As of 2 September 2001 located at 80.48 deg E drifting at 0.009 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 74.02E drifting at 0.040E degrees per day.

First attempted launch of a new version in the Long March family. Began to experience an anomaly in attitude about 2 seconds after launch, pitching down and yawing to the right. It augured in nose down at T+22 seconds and exploded violently, utterly destroying the launcher and its payload. The Chief-Designer of the launch vehicle organised an analysis team on the same day of the accident. Interpretation and analysis of the telemetered data indicated that the crash was caused by a change in the inertial reference. The explosion killed six and injured 57. Two of the killed were senior engineers with CASC.

Six satellites launched by a single carrier rocket.

Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 2 - NICMOS installation.

Plane 1. Ascending node 43.9 degrees.

Plane 1. Ascending node 43.8 degrees.

Plane 1. Ascending node 42.4 degrees.

Plane 1. Ascending node 43.6 degrees.

NEAR finally entered orbit around Eros on Valentine's Day, 2000. Orbit insertion was at 15:34 GMT into a 323 x 370 km initial orbit with a period of 27 days. The renamed NEAR-Shoemaker probe moved into a 100 x 200 km orbit around Eros on April 2 at 02:00 GMT. NEAR returned spectacular detailed pictures of the surface over the next several months. Studies were made of the asteroid's size, shape, mass, magnetic field, composition, and surface and internal structure.

On the third STS-98 EVA the airlock was depressurized at 1443 GMT, with hatch open at around 1445 and battery power at 1448. The spare SASA S-band antenna was unberthed from an adapter beam in the payload bay (around bay 4P?) and installed on Z1. The +X (starboard) TCS radiator on P6, launched on the previous mission, was deployed at 1649 GMT. The astronauts completed the spacewalk with repressurization of the airlock at 2013 GMT

DSP-1 Block 14 ballistic missile launch detection satellite. Last flight of the IUS upper stage. Launch delayed from November 4, 2003, and January 17, 2003. Planned IMEX piggyback payload cancelled. Still in service as of March 2007, expected to remain operational until 2017-2022. As of 2004 Feb 15 located at 96.66W drifting at 2.464W degrees per day.