Bell flight 10. Static longitudinal stability investigation. At Pinecastle AAF, Florida.

USAF Chief of Staff, Nathan F. Twining, reported that ICBM's were receiving priority in the AF program because of known Soviet progress. Navaho, Snark, and Atlas programs accelerated.

The thrust chamber of the F-1 engine was successfully static-fired at the Santa Susana Air Force-Rocketdyne Propulsion Laboratory in California. More than one million pounds of thrust were produced, the greatest amount attained to that time in the United States.

Planned to fly complete course with astronavigation system. Engine operation was rough due to high angle of attack (5-8°) of the diffuser. As a result, the flight was terminated at T+26 minutes after the missile had flown 1,500 km.

Decree 420·1741 'On approval of work on the US satellite and UR-200 launch vehicle / ICBM' was issued.

Atlas launch vehicle 107-D was delivered to Cape Canaveral for the Mercury-Atlas 7 (MA-7) mission.

North American completed construction of Apollo boilerplate (BP) 9, consisting of launch escape tower and CSM. It was delivered to MSC on March 18, where dynamic testing on the vehicle began two days later. On April 8, BP-9 was sent to MSFC for compatibility tests with the Saturn I launch vehicle.

Tank splicing was completed July 21. Aerojet-General delivered the stage II flight engine June 26, the stage I engine July 28. Engine installation was completed September 4. Final horizontal tests were completed and reviewed October 26, with Martin authorized to erect the vehicle in the vertical test facility.

Decree 'On renaming OKB-1 as TsKBEM and OKB-52 as TsKBM' was issued. In 1966 Afanasyev reorganised the military industrial complex. OKB-1 was redesignated TsKBEM. Sergei Osipovich Opakhin was made First Deputy within the new organization.

However within TsKBEM there were no relative priorities for the projects competing for resources. The R-9 and RT-2 ICBM's, the orbital, circumlunar, and lunar orbiter versions of Soyuz, the LK lunar lander, the N1 booster -- all were 'equal'. It seemed folly to be pursuing the orbital ferry version of the Soyuz when no space station had to be funded. But it was felt flying the spacecraft would solve reliability questions about the design, so it was pursued in parallel with the L1 and L3 versions.

It is estimated that Zond 4 will fly 45.8 km below the initial re-entry corridor at an altitude of 145 km, after which it will ricochet back out into space and proceed to a final re-entry and landing on Soviet territory. It is calculated it will land on 7 March at 21:56, 13 minutes later than the originally estimated time.

Studied charged particle flows and cosmic rays.

NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight George E. Mueller, wrote MSC Director Robert R. Gilruth of his concern about Apollo software. "Software as I mean it to be understood in this letter includes computer programs, mission profiles and procedures (training). As I recall, the Apollo project started with a legacy of warnings from other programs about the rigors and pitfalls of software development. . . . I believe we are giving far more management attention to hardware changes than to software changes of similar impact." He questioned "whether some of these changes make the system better or safer when the disruptive effects of change are also considered. . . . We are making too many discretionary software changes. These are costing money and effort which could better be used elsewhere. . . ."

Gilruth replied March 11: "I cannot agree with your contention that we are now controlling software with the same rigor and management attention that we are devoting to hardware changes. Our Apollo Spacecraft Program Office has organized a number of Configuration Control Boards at MSC. These include George Low's Apollo Spacecraft Configuration Control Board, Max Faget's Board for Government Furnished Equipment, Chris Kraft's Software Configuration Control Board, and Deke Slayton's Procedures Change Control Board. . . . Hardware changes . . . are directly under George Low's control. All computer program changes, both on board and on the ground, are controlled by Chris Kraft's Board. Changes to the Apollo Operations Handbook, flight crew procedures, crew checklists, trainers and simulators are controlled by Slayton. Changes in software or crew procedures that involve changes in schedule must additionally be approved by George Low's Board. The system I described is working well and, according to Sam Phillips, has resulted in a more disciplined change control than anywhere else in the Apollo Program. . . . We are not making discretionary software changes. We are only making those changes which our managers deem to be necessary in their effort to carry out the Apollo Program in the most effective manner."

High resolution photo reconnaissance satellite; returned film capsule

Tested Apollo spacesuit.

The space plan for 1971 has finally been approved. There are to be three space stations launched, manned by ten Soyuz launches and a total of over 12 different crewmembers in space during the year. But it is clear to Kamanin that the second DOS and first Almaz station will not really be ready this year. And there won't be more than two Soyuz and two TKS transports available by the end of the year. Ranazomov says that Chelomei's TKS, being designed to fly to the Almaz, will cover many of he same requirements of the Spiral spaceplane. He proposes that Mikoyan should collaborate with Chelomei on Spiral. Meanwhile simulators at TsPK remain underfunded.

The Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, with Glynn S. Lunney as Manager, was reorganized. Lunney was also Manager for ASTP (Apollo/Soyuz Test Project), an assignment to which he had been appointed in June of 1972.

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

Second launch of Rhyolite geostationary ELINT satellite.

Eight satellites launched by a single carrier rocket.

Multi-Orbit Satellite / Performance Improvement ballistic missile launch detection satellite, remained in service for over sixteen years. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Pacific Ocean at 68 deg W in 1982; 35 deg W in 1983-1988; 165 deg W in 1988-1989; 35 deg W in 1989-1991.

Replaced Cosmos 1278. Covered Oko constellation plane 3 - 355 degree longitude of ascending node.

Japanese domestic communications; 150 deg E. Domestic communication. Launching states: Japan, France, USA. Launch vehicle Ariane 29 (Ariane IV). Launching organization ARIANE SPACE. Launch time 1129 GMT. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 150 deg E in 1989-1997; 148 deg E in 1997; 111 deg E in 1998 As of 31 August 2001 located at 19.12 deg E drifting at 2.653 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 63.05E drifting at 2.678W degrees per day.

Meteosat Operational Program; weather imaging, atmospheric data; 0 deg. Geostationary meteorological satellite, operating within the world-wide network of the World Weather Watch of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Its main missions are: imaging in the visible, infrared and water vapour region of the spectrum. Dat a reception from so called Data Collection Platforms (DCPs); data distribution to meteorological services and other interested parties (research institutes, etc). As of 4 September 2001 located at 98.34 deg W drifting at 11.393 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 21.37E drifting at 11.390W degrees per day.

Military cartographic satellite; returned film capsule.

Depress was at 0825 UTC and repress at 1516 UTC. The HST was powered entirely down and astronauts changed out the power control unit.

Planned apogee 800 km.