The Royal Air Force attacked Germany's Peenemünde Rocket Research Center, causing heavy damage and delaying V-weapon program by months.

With the V-2 development program already in crisis, the Allies launch a massive bombing raid against Peenemuende. On that evening test pilot Hanna Reitsch was visiting the launch site. At 23:30 the air raid siren sounded. 600 British bombers drop 1500 tonnes of ordnance on the launch centre. However many bombs fell in the ocean around the peninsula, or buried themselves harmlessly in sand dunes. The resident area was hardest hit, while the Luftwaffe station at Peenemuende West was not touched. 47 British bombers were shot down - they were told before the raid that this was the most important mission of the war, and that their commanders would accept a 50% loss rate. 735 people were killed in the raid on the ground, including 178 of the 4000 inhabitants of the residential area. A large number of the foreign slave workers in the Trassenheide concentration camp barracks were also killed.

After the tremendous raid the rocket team wander around the devastated facility, half-clothed, the buildings bathed in a weird light and everything covered in fine sand, as if flour was dropped over everything. Thiel and Walther - the two leading rocket engineers in Germany - were killed in the raid, and virtually all major facilities were damaged. The saving grace was that the soft sand of Peenemuende attenuated the blast of many bombs. Nine bombs hit the main assembly hall, but while there was splinter damage to some of the machine tools, there was no decisive hit that would prevent production from continuing. It was estimated that operations could resume in 4 to 6 weeks.

The raid was not unexpected. The high altitude contrails of the V-2 test launches were called 'frozen lightning' and could be seen from Sweden on clear days. The location and purpose of Peenemuende appeared in a crossword puzzle in a illustrated magazine published in central Germany in early 1943. British reconnaissance flights to locate the launch facilities had been recognised for what they were.

This raid, together with the bombing of V-2 production lines at the Zeppelinwerke in Friedrichshafen and the Raxwerke in Wiener Neustadt convinced Saur to reduce the V-2 production rate goal to 900 per month.

An Air Force Thor/Able It launch vehicle, carrying the first U.S. International Geophysical Year (IGY) lunar payload, exploded 77 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral because of a first-stage engine failure. First US lunar attempt. The first US Air Force lunar probe, using a Thor-Able booster. An explosion ripped it apart 77 seconds after launch.

The Department of Defense and the Air Force Ballistic Missile Committee approved an in-silo launch capability for Titan missiles beginning with the seventh squadron (October 1962). As a result of changes initiated during 1959, the Titan missiles from the seventh squadron on would have all-inertial guidance systems, storable non-cryogenic propellants, and an in-silo launch capability.

Carl Sagan, University of California astronomer, warned scientists at a lunar exploration conference, Blacksburg, Va., of the need for sterilization of lunar spacecraft and decontamination of Apollo crewmen, pointing out that Lunik II and Ranger IV probably had deposited terrestrial microorganisms on the moon. Even more serious, he said, was the possibility that lunar microorganisms might be brought to earth where they could multiply explosively.

Apollo X spacecraft to be used in Earth orbit for extended duration biomedical and scientific flights. MSC's Spacecraft Integration Branch proposed an Apollo 'X' spacecraft to be used in Earth orbit for biomedical and scientific missions of extended duration. The spacecraft would consist of the lunar Apollo spacecraft and its systems, with minimum modifications consisting- of redundancies and spares. The concept provided for a first-phase mission which would consider the Apollo 'X' a two-man Earth-orbiting laboratory for a period of 14 to 45 days. The spacecraft would be boosted into a 370-km orbit by a Saturn IB launch vehicle. Additional Details: here....

Webb approves Apollo 8 lunar orbit mission for December - but no public announcement until after a successful Apollo 7 flight. Phillips and Hage visited MSC, bringing the news that Webb had given clear-cut authority to prepare for a December 6 launch, but that they could not proceed with clearance for lunar orbit until after the Apollo 7 flight, which would be an earth-orbital mission with basic objectives of proving the CSM and Saturn V systems. Phillips said that Webb had been "shocked and fairly negative" when he talked to him about the plan on August 15. Subsequently, Paine and Phillips sent Webb a lengthy discourse on why the mission should be changed, and it was felt he would change his mind with a successful Apollo 7 mission.

Venera 7 was launched from an earth parking orbit towards Venus to study the Venusian atmosphere and other phenomena of the planet. Venera 7 entered the atmosphere of Venus on December 15, 1970, and a landing capsule was jettisoned. After aerodynamic braking, a parachute system was deployed. The capsule antenna was extended, and signals were returned for 35 min. Another 23 min of very weak signals were received after the spacecraft landed on Venus. The capsule was the first man-made object to return data after landing on another planet.

The first SAC Targeting Support Software 0400 (STSS 0400) was delivered to SAC and integrated testing was performed at SAC using Minuteman Operational Executive Program 3102. 02 (MOTP 3102.02), SAC Targeting Support Software 0400 (STSS 0400) and SAC Target Constant Reformating Verification 100 (STRIVE 100). The purpose was to demonstrate capability to generate non-command data buffer magnetic target tape equivalent utilizing this software.

Zenit-2M area survey photo reconnaissance satellite used for earth resources studies as part of 'Gektor-Priroda' project. Nauka subsatellite 31KS jettisoned into independent orbit in the course of the mission. Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation.

Mir Expedition EO-22. Valeriy Korzun and Aleksandr Kaleri of the Russian Space Agency (RKA) Claudie Andre-Deshays of the French space agency CNES. This launch was the first of the Soyuz-U booster with a crew aboard following two launch failures of on unmanned flights. Soyuz docked with Mir's front port at 14:50:21 GMT on August 19; Mir was in a 375 x 390 km x 51.6 deg orbit.

On Feb 7 at 16:28:01 GMT the EO-22 crew and American astronaut Linenger undocked the Soyuz TM-24 ferry from the front docking port, flew it around to the far side of the complex and redocked at the rear Kvant port at 16:51:27 GMT. This cleared the forward port for the arrival of the EO-23 crew, who brought with them German astronaut Reinhold Ewald on Feb 12.

The redocking of this 'old' supply ship at the Mir complex did not take place on 17.08. During the first 3 passes of both objects it was obvious that Progress-M35 was continuing her autonomous flight. During the second pass the deputy head of mission control, Viktor Blagov, told the crew about changes in the work schedule for the next 2 days. The IVA would remain on schedule for 20.08.97.

Reason postponement: The data for the approach of Progress-M35 today transmitted by TsUP to the Progress-M35 turned out to be wrong and Progress-M35's OBC shut itself off. At deadline for this report the docking of Progress-M35 at Mir was (still) planned for 18.08 at 1257 UTC.

Soyuz-TM26: The redocking of this transport ship from the aft to the forward docking port took place on 15.08.97 between 13.29.20 and 14.13.04 UTC. At 1327 UTC, so just before separation, radio traffic from Soyuz-TM26 via Altair-2 could be heard. The safety clamps of the docking mechanism had been loosened and the program was proceeding according to plan. At 13.29.20 UTC Solovyov reported the separation and the fact that Soyuz-TM26 was slowly moving away from Mir. S. steered Soyuz-TM26 in the manual mode to be able to adjust the attitude of the ship in such a way that Vinogradov and Foale could make good images of the 'damage areas'.

At 13.29.51 UTC Altair-2 transmitted an image of the whole complex seen by a camera of the ship. At 13.35.59 UTC S. reported the proceedings of the flight. He asked Foale whether he already was doing his photo- and video work and asked him for instructions to adjust the ship's attitude for the best images. Communications via Altair-2 ceased at 13.42.58 UTC, but a few minutes later S. could be heard via 121.750 mc (1401-1409 UTC). 4 minutes later S. accomplished a perfect docking at the forward (P.Kh.O. - transition section) port of the complex.

Back on board Mir S. told TsUP that the images they had made were very good and certainly useful for analyses. In a conversation with Earth Foale told that they intended to transmit these images to TsUP on 18.08 and he was sure that TV stations all over the world would retransmit these. (The TV shots which already had been shown by TV stations came from short direct links with Russian tracking stations.)

Elektron: Already on the day of the return of the relieved crew Vinogradov succeeded in restoring the Elektron oxygen generator in Kvant-1. It was very difficult to reach the spot where he had to clean Elektron. A white-brown jelly-like substance had stopped up a pipe inside Elektron and had to be cleaned. After purging this pipe he was able to restart Elektron and after 1 orbit Solovyov reported that Elektron was working normally. As far as could be derived from radio traffic Elektron still does thus far.

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

Brasilsat B4 was a C-band geosynchronous communications satellite, replacing the 15-year-old Brasilsat A2 for the Brazilian communications company Embratel. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 75 deg W in 2000. As of 2 September 2001 located at 92.03 deg W drifting at 0.011 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 70.08W drifting at 0.020W degrees per day.

Geosynchronous communications satellite of the Egyptian company Nilesat SA. The satellite joined Nilesat 101 in providing Ku-band broadcast services. Stationed at 7 deg W. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 7 deg W in 2000. As of 2 September 2001 located at 6.98 deg W drifting at 0.002 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 6.97W drifting at 0.004W degrees per day.

The National Reconnaissance Office satellite was reported to be an Onyx (formerly Lacrosse) radar imaging spacecraft built by Lockheed Martin. The Titan second stage reached a 572 x 675 km x 68.0 deg orbit and separated from the payload. Amateur observers reported the payload has made two small maneuvers and by Aug 23 was in a 681 x 695 km x 68.1 deg orbit.

While Discovery's astronauts looked on, the Expedition Two crew ceremoniously handed command of the International Space Station to its Expedition Three replacements. The ceremony occurred just prior to closing the hatches between the two spacecraft in preparation for the final planned space walk of the STS-105 mission. Additional Details: here....

Aprizesat 5 and 6 were built by SpaceQuest for exactEarth Ltd. Equipped with AIS (maritime Automatic Identification System) payloads for ship location tracking. The exactEarth system also included the SpaceQuest AprizeSat 3 and 4, and a payload attached to ISRO's ResourceSat-2 satellite.

Yuzhnoye launch vehicle engineering payload which remained attached to the post-boost maneuvering upper stage after deployment of the other six satellites on the launch. 16 minutes after launch, at an altitude of 700 km, the upper stage dispensed the six satellites at two-minute intervals, then maneuvered into itself into a higher orbit.

Communications satellite delivered to an incorrect orbit when the Briz-M upper stage malfunctioned. The first two Briz-M burns, to a 173 km x 173 km, and then to a 270 km x 4998 km orbit, were successful. The third burn, at 00:52 GMT on 18 August, seemed to have gone wrong, with early separation of the wrap-around DTB propellant tank. A fourth burn left the payload stranded in a 694 km x 20242 km orbit. Cause was a timing error in the inertial platform, leading to incorrect orientiation of the stage during the later burns.

Retrieved the "Restavratsiya" (Restoration) Experiment Hardware, Launched 5 Nano Satellites one of them being a Sputnik satellite named "Zerkalo" which was launched to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the original Sputnik and the birth of rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Cleaned the windows on the Russian segment and installed "Test" containers on the hatches of the Pirs Docking Compartment and the Poisk Module, Retrieved CKK 9M9 cassettes from Zvezda, Installed Struts, Gap Spanners, and Handrails on Zvezda in preparation for the arrival of Nauka in the future, Installed the "Impact" trays by the Zvezda thrusters, and photographed the aft end of Zvezda and the "OHA" Antenna, Installed Struts, Gap Spanners, Handrails, and Ladders on Poisk, Photographed the Russian Segment.