Upper-air pressure, density; solar and cosmic radiation research. Launched at 1100 local time. Reached 219 km. A Navy Viking 7 rocket set an altitude record for single-stage rockets and reaching a speed of 6,600 kph. This was the highest flight of the original airframe design.

Between 27 May and 7 August Gagarin and Kamanin travel to Czechoslovakia, Finland, England, Iceland, Cuba, Brazil, Canada, Hungary. In July they are at Paris at the FAI, where the records supporting the record flights of Shepard and Gagarin are examined. Kamanin has no time to write up the materials from the tour. Both he and Gagarin are out of the country during preparations for and the actual flight of Titov aboard Vostok 2.

On August 7, Low asked MSC's Director of Flight Operations Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., to look into the feasibility of a lunar orbit mission for Apollo 8 without carrying the LM. A mission with the LM looked as if it might slip until February or March 1969. The following day Low traveled to KSC for an AS-503 review, and from the work schedule it looked like a January 1969 launch. Additional Details: here....

The Apollo Design Certification Review (DCR) Board convened at MSC to examine LM-3 further for proof of design and development maturity and to assess and certify the design of the LM-3 as flightworthy and safe for manned flight. This Delta review was identified as a requirement at the March 6 LM-3 DCR. The Board concluded at the close of the Delta DCR that LM-3 was safe to fly manned with the completion of open work and action items identified during the review.

Circumlunar flight; successfully recovered in USSR August 13, 1969. Only completely successful L1 flight that could have returned cosmonauts alive or uninjured to earth. Official mission was further studies of the moon and circumlunar space, to obtain colour photography of the earth and the moon from varying distances, and to flight test the spacecraft systems. Earth photos were obtained on August 9, 1969. On August 11, 1969, the spacecraft flew past the moon at a distance of 1984.6 km and conducted two picture taking sessions. Successfully accomplished double-dip re-entry and landed 50 km from aim point near Kustani in the USSR.

Work has been underway for 5 to 6 years. The decree of the Communist Party/Ministry of Defence of 16 June 1970 finally set forth a firm flight schedule: first trials flight in fourth quarter 1971; all flight trials to be completed by the end of 1972; the design to be accepted for military service in 1973. Priorities are provided to the program that will allow VVS institutes and forces to support this schedule. The Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine (IAKM) will be especially involved in biomedical issues.

CM and SM separation, parachute deployment, and other reentry events went as planned, but one of the three main parachutes failed, causing a hard but safe landing. Splashdown - at 4:45 p.m. EDT (20:45 GMT), after 12 days 7 hours 12 minutes from launch - was 530 kilometers north of Hawaii and 10 kilometers from the recovery ship U.S.S. Okinawa. The astronauts were carried to the ship by helicopter, and the CM was retrieved and placed on board. All primary mission objectives had been achieved.

Atlas 76F, with two upper stage Orbital Vehicle propulsion modules, OV1-20 and 0V1-21, was launched from Vandenberg as part of SAMSO's Space Test Program (STP). This mission, STP 70-2, successfully placed six spacecraft with nine separate payloads into polar orbits. Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).

Apollo 15 landed at 20:45 GMT. CM and SM separation, parachute deployment, and other reentry events went as planned, but one of the three main parachutes failed, causing a hard but safe landing. Splashdown - at 20:47 GMT, 12 days 7 hours 12 minutes from launch - was 530 kilometers north of Hawaii and 10 kilometers from the recovery ship U.S.S. Okinawa. The astronauts were carried to the ship by helicopter, and the CM was retrieved and placed on board.

National Air and Space Museum Director Michael Collins advised JSC that NASM had established a center for research and study with responsibility for a complete library of lunar photos to document scientific results of the Apollo missions. The library would be used for original research and for planning and updating scientific parts of exhibits.

Installed second sunshade. Replaced solar camera film cartridges. During EVA by crew members of Skylab 3, a twin-boom sunshade, developed by MSFC, was deployed over the parasol of the OWS. A redesigned and refined thermal parasol had been launched with Skylab 3. However, its use would have required jettisoning the parasol deployed by crew members of Skylab 2, with the possibility of creating the same thermal problems that existed on the OWS prior to the parasol deployment. Following erection of the twin-pole sunshade, the cabin temperature stayed at a comfortable 293-297 K (67.7°F-74.9°F).

Unmanned supply vessel to Salyut 6. Delivery of fuel, consumable materials and equipment to the Salyut 6 station. Docked with Salyut 6 on 9 Aug 1978 23:59:30 GMT. Undocked on 21 Aug 1978 15:42:50 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 23 Aug 1978 16:45:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 4.10 days. Total docked time 11.66 days.

Ionosphere and magnetosphere studies. Intercosmos-Bulgaria 1300. Comprehensive investigation of physical processes in the earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere. Carried scientific equipment developed and manufactured in the People's Republic of Bulgaria with the assistance of Soviet scientists .

Deployed and retrieved the CRISTA-SPAS-2 (the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite-2) designed to study Earth's middle atmosphere. The CRISTA-SPAS-2 was making its second flight on the Space Shuttle and represented the fourth mission in a cooperative venture between the German Space Agency (DARA) and NASA.

CRISTA-SPAS was deployed by the RMS arm at 22:27 GMT on August 7 and was recaptured by Discovery's RMS arm at 15:14 GMT on August 16. Because of unfavorable weather conditions at the primary shuttle landing site at the Kennedy Space Center, Discovery was waved off for its scheduled August 18 landing. STS-85 landed the next day, at Kennedy Space Center at 11:08 GMT.

Technology Applications and Science experiment, mounted in space shuttle bay, from NASA-Goddard's Hitchhiker-M program. TAS-01 used a number of GAS cans with science experiments, including the second flight of the Shuttle Laser Altimeter and an instrument to measure the absolute bolometric flux of the Sun.

The stage is set for another docking to the International Space Station (ISS) Tuesday - this time by a Russian Progress supply vehicle that launched Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Progress is delivering clothing, computers, personal hygiene items, office supplies, food and fuel for the first permanent residents of the Station, the Expedition One crew, which is scheduled to arrive on board in early November. Additional Details: here....

Objectives: First glide flight of SpaceShipOne. Results: The space ship was launched at 47,000 feet and 105 knots, 10 nm east of Mojave. Separation was clean and positive with no tendency to roll off or pitch bobble. An initial handling qualities evaluation was very positive, supported close correlation to the vehicle simulator and with that confidence, the first flight test cards were executed as planned. Additional Details: here....