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1966 January 3-7 - Preliminary Design Review for the Apollo Block II pressure garment - The Preliminary Design Review for the Block II pressure garment assembly was held at International Latex Corporation....
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1966 January 6-13 - Apollo Block I SPS engine tested to 600 seconds - The 500-second limitation for the Block I service propulsion system SPS engine qualification program was increased to 600 seconds for the last three altitude qualification tests. The spacecraft 020 SPS mission duty cycle required a 310-second burn an...
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1966 January 8-11 - First Apollo fuel cell system test at White Sands - The first fuel cell system test at White Sands Test Facility was conducted successfully. Primary objectives were: 1 to verify the capability of the ground support equipment and operational checkout procedure to start up, operate, and shut down a sing...
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8 January - Space trainers - Tyulin and Mozzhorin review space simulators at TsPK. The 3KV and Volga trainers are examined. Tyulin believes the simulators need to be finished much earlier, to be used not just to train cosmonauts, but as tools for the spacecraft engineers to work...
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11 January - Female flight go-ahead - Tyulin has ordered the crew for the female Voskhod flight to enter final flight training and the preparation of all necessary space suits, cabin uniforms, crew couch liners, documentation, and other final preparations....
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13 January - Land impact program for the Apollo CM Block I deleted - A decision made at a Program Management Review eliminated the requirement for a land impact program for the CM to support Block I flights. Post-abort CM land impact for Saturn IB launches had been eliminated from Complex 37 by changes to the sequence...
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14 January - Korolev's death - Korolev dies at age 59 during what was expected to be routine colon surgery in Moscow. The day began for Kamanin with firm plans finally in place for the next three Voskhod and first three Soyuz flights. Volynov and Shonin will be the crew for the fi...
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20 January - Little Joe II A-004 - Apollo Mission A-004 was successfully accomplished at White Sands Missile Range. This was the first flight test utilizing the Apollo Block I type spacecraft and the sixth and final test of the Apollo CSM development program at WSMR....
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24 January - New space schedules - The VVS General Staff reviews a range of documents, authored by Korolev before his death, and supported by ministers Afanasyev and Petrovskiy. The schedules for the projects for flying around and landing on the moon are to be delayed from 1966-1967 t...
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28 January - OKB-1 Program Review - Kamanin, Gagarin, Komarov, and other VVS staff attend the first program review held since Korolev's death. Mishin reviews spacecraft build status. Voskhod s/n 5 is to be shipped to Tyuratam on 1 February and launched in the first half of February. Th...
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31 January - Luna 9 - Soft landed on Moon; photographed surface for 3 days. Landed on Moon 3 February 1966 at 18:44:52 GMT, Latitude 7.08 N, Longitude 295.63 E - Oceanus Procellarum. The Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to tra...
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31 January - Voskhod sinks from sight - After Korolev's death, the leadership simply "forgets" about the instructions to fly a new series of Voskhods. The decrees ordering the flights are never rescinded, but the issue is not seriously raised again....
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1 February - Construction starts on N1 launch pad 110 west. - ...
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2 February - Voskhod parachute system - Smirnov again questions the chief designers about the reliability of the parachute systems developed by Tkachev. The VVS remains troubled as to the reliability of these systems. Recently the system has been tested at Fedosiya to increase its rating t...
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10 February - State Commission - The commission, chaired by Tyulin, with attendance by Mishin, Tsybin, Shabarov, Kerimov, and others considers manned flight plans for 1966. The 20-day dog flight of Voskhod s/n 5 is expected to launch on 22-23 February. Kamanin notes that although he...
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14 February - N1 redesign to increase payload to 95 tonnes - 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...
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15 February - L1 trainers - Tyulin lays out the military experiments that are to be conducted aboard Voskhod during 1966. Plans for completion of an L1 trainer for preparations for a Soviet circumlunar flight are discussed....
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17 February - Soviet Lunar Landing Plans - Kamanin presents his plan to train 5 to 6 crews for the lunar landing mission over a 30 month period. Only experienced cosmonauts, with prior spaceflight experience, will be assigned to these crews. Kamanin lays out for the VVS leadership the complex...
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18 February - Cosmos 110 State Commission - The first launch commission with Korolev's chair empty. The chief designers certify the full readiness of the booster, spacecraft, and the dogs that will crew the spacecraft. It is declared that the launch can proceed on 22-23 February. The only prob...
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22 February - Cosmos 110 - Successfully recovered March 15, 1966 13:00 GMT. Precursor mission for Voskhod 3 hardware. Two dogs carried into lower Van Allen radiation belts....
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26 February - Apollo 201 (AS-201) - Apollo-Saturn 201 was launched from Cape Kennedy, with liftoff of an Apollo Block I spacecraft (CSM 009) on a Saturn IB launch vehicle at 11:12:01 EST. Launched from Launch Complex 34, the unmanned suborbital mission was the first flight test of the ...
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1 March - Cosmos 111 - ...
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1 March - Voskhod 3 postponed - Tyulin advises that the State Commission has decided to postpone the flight of Voskhod 3 to late April. The cosmonauts ready, but the spacecraft is not. OKB-1 staff at Baikonur also are tasked to launch the Luna 10 probe and another Molniya-1 commun...
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3 March - Voskhod 3 ECS - Today the trials at Voronin's OKB-124 had to be halted after a 16 day run, when the cabin oxygen level went out of limits. It seems the cosmonauts could control it in flight by closely monitoring the cabin atmosphere composition and changing cartrid...
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6 March - Soviet design bureaux reorganised and renamed. - 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....
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8 March - Dual Apollo AS-207/208 mission planned - Apollo Program Director Samuel C. Phillips notified the three manned space flight Centers that they were requested to plan for a dual AS-207/208 mission, assuming that launch would occur one month later than the 207 launch now scheduled....
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1966 March 9-10 - First integrated test of major Apollo service module systems - The first integrated test of the service propulsion system, electrical power system, and cryogenic gas storage system was successfully conducted at the White Sands Test Facility....
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12 March - Voskhod/Soyuz crews - Tyulin and Mozzhorin review with Kamanin crewing plans. Even though the missions of Voskhod 4 and 5 are not yet clear, Tyulin wants to settle on Beregovoi and Katys for Voskhod 4, and Ponomaryova and Solovyova for Voskhod 5. Since October 1965 six cr...
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15 March - Cosmos 110 landing commission - The State Commission meets on the 21st day of flight. The life forms are still alive, although the atmosphere in the cabin isgradually worsening (oxygen has gone from 143 to 136 mm Hg and the carbon dioxide level has gone up from 0.89% to 0.91%). The...
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16 March - Gemini 8 - The Atlas-Agena target vehicle for the ...
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16 March - Gemini 8 Agena Target - Target vehicle for Gemini 8....
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16 March - Landing of Cosmos 110 - The 'Spusk' landing command is transmitted to the capsule at 14:00, all proceeds normally, and the capsule makes a soft landing at 17:15 210 km southeast of Saratov, 60 km from the aim point. All recovery systems and radio beacons work well, and with...
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23 March - NASA released the first AAP schedule. It envisioned 26 Saturn IB and 19 Saturn V AAP launches. - Among these would be three 'S-IVB/Spent-Stage Experiment Support Modules' (i.e., 'wet' Workshops), three Saturn V-boosted orbital laboratories, and four Apollo telescope mounts. The initial AAP launch was slated for April 1968. The schedule was predi...
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23 March - Cosmos 110 review - An OKB-1 review is held, without Tyulin and Mishin, who are at Baikonur supervising launch of a Monlniya satellite and Luna 10. Tsybin leads the meeting. Although the Cosmos 110 flight was successful, there were several deviations: the Zarya antenna ...
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24 March - N-4 s/n 3 - ...
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26 March - Voskhod 3 test failure - IMBP has completed its tests of the ECS, which only ran 18.5 days before shutting down instead of the 20-day objective. This means essentially that any flight will be limited to 17 to 18 days, and a 20-day manned flight will not be possible during 19...
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30 March - Voskhod military space projects - The military has over a tonne of military experiments they want flown, which would require at a minimum manned flights of Voskhod s/n 6, 7, 8, and 9. Development of a military version of Soyuz is proceeding slowly. It would be best to use these exist...
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31 March - Luna 10 - Lunar Orbit (Selenocentric). Development of system to permit the creation of an artificial lunar satellite for the investigation of circumlunar space; development of onboard systems for putting a station into a selenocentric (circumlunar) orbit. Orbi...
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1966 March - Total cost of the Apollo manned lunar landing program - NASA OMSF prepared a position paper on NASA's estimated total cost of the manned lunar landing program. Administrator James E. Webb furnished the paper for the record of the FY 1967 Senate authorization hearings and the same statement was given to th...
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1 April - Voskhod 4 to 6 in jeopardy - In a meeting of Soviet Ministers, it is revealed that Voskhod s/n 7, 8, and 9 will likely not be completed. Kamanin objects - he wants these flights to be used for manned test of military equipment in space. He does not trust waiting even further for...
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4 April - L1 and Voskhod - The Luna 10 robot orbiter has successfully entered moon orbit, conducted two radio communications sessions, including broadcast back to the earth of the "International", the Socialist hymn, to the 23rd Party Congress. Bushuev from OKB-1 is seeking co...
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8 April - Agreement between the Department of Defense and NASA on extraterrestrial mapping - Deputy Administrator Robert C. Seamans, Jr., received a letter from John S. Foster, Jr., Director of Defense Research and Engineering, expressing pleasure that the agreement between the Department of Defense and NASA on extraterrestrial mapping, char...
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8 April - Voskhod 3 further delayed - Tyulin reveals that Voskhod 3 should be completely integrated and ready to go by the end of April, but the flight will be pushed back even farther than that. Mishin is also raising questions about Voskhod 4 and Voskhod 5. The cosmonauts are ready, bu...
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10 April - Cosmonaut training for lunar flights announced - Leonov announces that cosmonauts are in training for lunar missions....
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18 April - Lunar Worm Planetary Roving Vehicle - ASPO Manager Joseph F. Shea and members of his organization were invited to attend the formal presentation by the Aeronutronic Division of Philco Corp. on a "Study of Lunar Worm Planetary Roving Vehicle Concept," at LaRC on May 3. The explo...
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18 April - Apollo spacecraft 007 and 011 delivered - Spacecraft 007 and 011 were delivered to NASA by North American Aviation. Spacecraft 007 was delivered to Houston to be used for water impact and flotation tests in the Gulf of Mexico and in an environmental tank at Ellington AFB. It contained all re...
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27 April - Soyuz L1 full scale development, LK-1 cancellation approved. - Decree 10 'On approving the work plan to build the p8loted spacecraft 7K-L1 -- approving the plan for for the UR-500K-L1 and terminating the UR-500K-LK-1' was issued....
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27 April - L1 Mock-up Inspection - The L1 inspection has not gone well. The cosmonauts find that the spacecraft has the same safety problems as Voskhod: no spacesuits, no reserve parachute for the spacecraft, no signal sent when the parachute deploys (the UHF beacon only begins emitti...
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3 May - Soviet recovery planning - Kamanin is upset over the lack of resources he is given to plan and carry out manned spacecraft recovery for circumlunar missions, which may splash down in the ocean or land almost anywhere on earth. His staff dedicated to this are to be increased fr...
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10 May - Voskhod 3 spiked - A meeting of the VPK Military Industrial Commission begins with Tyulin, Mishin, Burnazyan, and Kamanin certifying the readiness for launch of Voskhod 3 on 25-28 May. Then Smirnov drops a bombshell: Voskhod 3 should be cancelled because: an 18-day fli...
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11 May - Plans for Apollo space rescue discontinued - MSC Deputy Director George M. Low recommended to Maxime A. Faget, MSC, that, in light of Air Force and Aerospace Corp. studies on space rescue, MSC plans for a general study on space rescue be discontinued and a formal request be made to OMSF to canc...
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11 May - Mishin selected as Korolev's replacement after four-month delay - From 1963-1965 Ustinov was both head of the Soviet for the National Economy and the First Secretary of the Presidium of Soviet Ministers. He supported civilian space projects and instructed the military to co-operate in them. But after Khrushchev was...
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12 May - Voskhod 3 State Commission - Chief Designer A A Golubev from OKB-154 Voronezh discusses the failure of his engines on the third stage of the Molniya launch on 27 March. He points out that the third stage has operated successfully in 500 stand trials and over 100 flights. It is t...
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16 May - Voskhod 3 delays - Tyulin has already warned that military crews at Baikonur are 'going slow' in Voskhod 3 preparations. Now it is reported from Voronezh that the military quality control official is refusing to certify the engines for the third stage of Voskhod 3 as r...
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17 May - Gemini 9 Agena Target - ...
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18 May - Communist Party Administrative Section reviews space program - Kamanin reports the sad state of affairs. There is no Soviet state organ tasked with systematic management of the space program (the VPK and Smirnov only handle this as one of many tasks): within the Ministry of Defence there is no single organ that ...
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19 May - L1 flight plan - VPK resolution number 101 dated 27 April 1966 finally hits Kamanin's desk. It issues the orders to industry for implementation of the Party resolution 655-268 of 3 August 1964. 14 7K-L1 spacecraft are to be completed: one in the third quarter of 196...
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20 May - L1 recovery issues - Kamanin discusses with VVS management the huge task of organizing recovery forces that can find and pick up a manned spacecraft returning from the moon anywhere on the earth. Receivers for the spacecraft's homing beacons have to be installed on a fle...
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21 May - Voskhod 3 shifted to July - Based on the further delay, it is decided to send the crews and their families to the sanatorium Chemitokvadzhe. Kamanin takes a month's vacation to nurse him wife after her release from the hospital....
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25 May - First full-scale Apollo Saturn V launch vehicle rolled out - AS-500-F, the Pathfinder first full-scale Apollo Saturn V launch vehicle and spacecraft combination, was rolled out from Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad, for use in verifying launch facilities, training crews, and d...
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1 June - Gemini 9 ATDA - The ATDA achieved a near-circular orbit (apogee 161.5, perigee 158.5 nautical miles). One hour and 40 minutes later, the scheduled launch of Gemini IX-A was postponed by a ground equipment failure which prevented the transfer of updating information ...
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3 June - Gemini 9 - At the first launch attempt, while the crew waited buttoned up in the spacecraft on the pad, their Agena docking target field blew up on the way to orbit. NASA decided to use an Atlas to launch an Agena docking collar only. This was called the Augmen...
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5 June - EVA Gemini 9-1 - Attempted to test USAF Astronaut Manoeuvring Unit. Cancelled when Cernan's faceplate fogged over....
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6 June - Landing of Gemini 9 - Following the third sleep period, the crew prepared for retrofire, which was initiated during the 45th revolution. The spacecraft landed at 13:59 GMTwithin 1.6 km of the primary recovery ship, the aircraft carrier Wasp. The crew remained with the spa...
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1 July - Three additional backup Apollo missions studied - Director of Flight Operations Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., said that MSC had been directed by NASA OMSF to outline technical problems and both cost and schedule impact of adding three backup Apollo missions to the planned flight schedule. The missions ...
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4 July - Soyuz simulators - The 7K-OK simulator consists of a mock-up of the BO living compartment and SA re-entry capsule only. The interiors are not yet fitted out with equipment, and development of the optical equipment to allow the cosmonauts to train with simulated docking...
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5 July - Apollo 203 - First orbital test Saturn IB; no spacecraft. AS-203 lifted off from Launch Complex 37, Eastern Test Range, at 10:53 a.m. EDT in the second of three Apollo-Saturn missions scheduled before manned flight in the Apollo program. All objectives - to acqui...
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6 July - Proton 3 - Space station 'Proton 3'. Investigation of ultra high energy cosmic particles ...
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6 July - State Commission on Manned Spaceflight - Tyulin heads a meeting that brings the Soyuz crewing dispute into the open. The opposing crews are represented as follows:...
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9 July - Struggle for space leadership - In the previous days Kamanin has been preparing Vershinin and Rudenko for the struggle to ensure the Ministry of Defence's interests in space are preserved and defended. Malinovskiy, Smirnov, and Ustinov must be convinced of the righteousness of the...
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10 July - Komarov announces that USSR will beat US to moon - Komarov announces in Japan that USSR would beat the US to moonlanding by one year....
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18 July - Gemini 10 Agena Target - Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A). ...
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18 July - Gemini 10 - Exciting mission with successful docking with Agena, flight up to parking orbit where Gemini 8 Agena is stored. Collins space walks from Gemini to Agena to retrieve micrometeorite package left in space all those months. Loses grip first time, and tum...
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19 July - EVA Gemini 10-1 - Photographed earth and stars....
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20 July - EVA Gemini 10-3 - Threw excess equipment out of spacecraft....
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20 July - EVA Gemini 10-2 - Retrieved micrometeoroid collector from Agena....
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20 July - Apollo mapping and survey system (M&SS) - MSC Director Robert R. Gilruth informed MSFC Director Wernher von Braun that for the past two years MSC had studied the use of the mapping and survey system (M&SS) in conjunction with the Apollo program....
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20 July - Heated exchange with Mishin - Kamanin and VVS officers spend more than two hours in a heated exchange with Mishin and his staff at OKB-1. Mishin is attacked for delays in completion of Soyuz; his demand that OKB-1 cosmonauts be trained in VVS zero-G aircraft without any agreement...
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21 July - Landing of Gemini 10 - The retrofire maneuver was initiated at 70 hours 10 minutes after liftoff, during the 43rd revolution. The spacecraft landed at 21:06 GMT within sight of the prime recovery ship, the aircraft carrier Guadalcanal, some 5 km from the planned landing po...
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22 July - Voskhod 3 still on? - Following the meeting with Mishin, Kamanin promises that the Voskhod 3 mission will be quickly revived and that the crews should refresh their training with the objective of a flight by 15 September. Kamanin notes the successful completion of the ver...
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25 July - VVS Victory on Soyuz crew issue - Tyulin advises Kamanin that Ustinov has instructed Mishin to accept that Soyuz spacecraft will be commanded by a VVS pilot cosmonaut, with OKB-1 providing cosmonauts for the engineering support role. Mishin is to immediately send four candidates from...
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26 July - Soyuz hatch problem - Training of the new cosmonaut cadre is reviewed. English language courses are proving to be a particular problem. There have been some potential washouts - Sharafutdinov has done poorly in astronomy, Shcheglov suffered an injury at the beach, Skvorts...
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27 July - VPK Meeting - L1 delays - Marshal Vershinin attends the meeting, where it is revealed that all systems in development - Chelomei's, Mishin's, Voronin's, Severin's, and others - are seriously behind schedule. The first unmanned circumlunar test of the L1 was to be made by 15 ...
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30 July - Beregovoi pushed for Soyuz mission - Mishin, Rudenko, and others have met with Beregovoi and support his selection as commander for the first Soyuz mission. Kamanin does not believe he is fit for the assignment, due to his age, his height and weight (that are the limit of the acceptable...
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2 August - Letter to Central Committee on OKB-1 actions. - Malinovskiy decides to send the letter to the Central Committee complaining about MOM and OKB-1's after two days of indecision....
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3 August - Sea tests of Soyuz - Mishin sends a letter to Kamanin, linking acceptance of his eight cosmonaut candidates from OKB-1 to continuation of sea recovery tests of the Soyuz capsule at Fedosiya. Kamanin's early hopes for Mishin have been dashed - not only is he no Korolev, b...
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5 August - Showdown on spacesuits - At a meeting at LII MAP Zazakov, Litvinov, Mishin, Tsybin, Bushuev, Severin, Alekseyev, and Komarov spar over the hatch and spacesuit problem. Severin only agrees to modifying the ECS under immense pressure, but the modified suit will not be ready un...
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8 August - Manual control simulation of the Saturn V upper stages with Apollo - MSC requested Ames Research Center to conduct a manual control simulation of the Saturn V upper stages with displays identical to those planned in the spacecraft. On August 5, Brent Creer and Gordon Hardy of Ames had met with representatives from ASP...
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8 August - Gagarin's letter buried. - As expected, Gagarin's letter to Brezhnev was referred to Ustinov, then to Smirnov, who has now referred it to Afanasyev and Malinovskiy with the instructions that they are "to present a mutually agreed solution". Malinovskiy referred it in turn to h...
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9 August - LLRF to be used by Apollo LM flight crews before the LLTV - MSC worked out a program with LaRC for use of the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF) for preflight transition for LM flight crews before free-flight training in the lunar landing training vehicle. LM hardware sent to Langley to be used as trainin...
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10 August - Soyuz schedule has been delayed again - Soyuz s/n 1 and 2 will be flown unpiloted by October 1966 Manned flights aboard Soyuz s/n 3, 4, 5, 6 will not take place until the first quarter of 1967. Later Mishin tours the cosmonaut training centre - the first time in his life he has visited the...
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16 August - Apollo LM test model No 3 (TM-3) shipped to Cape Kennedy - The mockup of LM test model No. 3 (TM-3) was shipped by ...
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22 August - Apollo experiment pallet cancelled - NASA informed four firms that had completed design studies on the Apollo experiment pallet that there would be no hardware development and fabrication of the pallet. The four firms had been selected in November 1965 to make four-month studies of a pa...
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24 August - Luna 11 - Automatic station Luna 11. Further development of artificial lunar satellite systems and conduct of scientific experiments in circumlunar space. Lunar orbit 160 km x 1200 km x 27 degrees. Luna 11 was launched towards the Moon from an earth-orbiting p...
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25 August - Apollo 202 (AS-202) - Spacecraft 011 was essentially a Block I spacecraft with the following exceptions: couches, crew equipment, and the cabin postlanding ventilation were omitted; and three auxiliary batteries, a mission control programmer, four cameras, and flight qual...
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1 September - N1-L3 manned landing profile approved. - Central Committee of the Communist Party and Council of Soviet Ministers Decree 'On approval of the N1-L3 mission profile' was issued....
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September 1966 - N1 two-launch moon scenario proposed - Bushuyev proposed a two launch variation on Korolev's single-launch scheme. The increased-payload version of the N1 with six additional engines was not planned to fly until vehicle 3L. 1L and 2L were to be technology articles for ground test with onl...
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2 September - Lunar flight cosmonauts assignments. - In the period 1966 to 1968 there were five simultaneous Soviet manned space projects (Soyuz 7K-OK orbital; Soyuz 7K-L1 circumlunar; Soyuz VI military; L3 manned lunar landing; Almaz space station). Cosmonaut assignments were in constant flux, resulti...
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12 September - Gemini 11 - More highjinks with Conrad. First orbit docking with Agena, followed by boost up to record 800 km orbit, providing first manned views of earth as sphere. Tether attached by Gordon to Agena in spacewalk and after a lot of effort tethered spacecraft pu...
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12 September - Gemini 11 Agena Target - Docking target for Gemini 11....
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13 September - EVA Gemini 11-1 - Retrieved micrometeoroid collector from Agena....
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13 September - EVA Gemini 11-2 - Threw excess equipment out of spacecraft....
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14 September - EVA Gemini 11-3 - Photographed earth and stars....
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14 September - N1 plans approved. - Academy of Sciences Decree 'On course of work on the N1-L3' was issued....
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15 September - Landing of Gemini 11 - The spacecraft landed at 13:59 GMT less than 5 km from the planned landing point at 71 hours 17 minutes after liftoff. The crew was retrieved by helicopter, and the spacecraft was brought aboard the prime recovery ship, the aircraft carrier Guam, abo...
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16 September - Communist Party delegates visit Baikonur - Communist Party delegates from Interkosmos states visited Baikonur for two days. They were shown the N1 launch complex and viewed a Molniya-1 launch. They were the first non-Russians to see the N1 complex....
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17 September - Competing lunar landing designs to be evaluated. - Military-Industrial Commission (VPK) Decree 'On creation of a commission to compare the UR-700-LK-700 and the N1-L3' was issued....
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23 September - NASA long-range planning - A Planning Coordination Steering Group at NASA Hq. received program options from working groups established to coordinate long-range planning in life sciences, earth-oriented applications, astronomy, lunar exploration, and planetary exploration. The ...
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1966 Week Ending September 30 - Apollo LM test model TM-6 and test article LTA-10 shipped - LM test model TM-6 and test article LTA-10 were shipped from Grumman on the ...
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4 October - Dummy Proton/Block D mounted on pad. - A dummy 8K82K/Block D rocket was mounted at the launch site. The dummy was loaded with imitation propellants (kerosene as fuel and water/ethyl alcohol as oxidiser). The nitrogen tetroxide oxidiser had to be kept above -11 degrees C, and it was origin...
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7 October - Apollo AS-202 impact error analzyed - In a memorandum to the NASA Deputy Administrator, Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight George E. Mueller commented on the AS-202 impact error. Mueller said the trajectory of the August 25 AS-202 mission was essentially as planned except th...
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12 October - Apollo environment control unit in serious trouble - Apollo Program Director Samuel C. Phillips told Mark E. Bradley, Vice President and Assistant to the President of The Garrett Corp., that "the environment control unit, developed and produced by Garrett's AiResearch Division under subcontract to...
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12 October - Apollo LM-1 not capable of manned flight - MSC Apollo Spacecraft Program Office Manager Joseph F. Shea reported that LM-1 would no longer be capable of both manned and unmanned flight and that it would be configured and checked out for unmanned flight only. In addition, LM-2 would no longer b...
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12 October - Voskhod 3 resurfaces - Ustinov calls Gagarin, Komarov, and Leonov to his office to discuss their long-unanswered letter to Brezhnev. He asks about cosmonaut training for Soyuz flights, and surprisingly, Voskhod 3 (long buried by Mishin, though no resolution or decision eve...
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22 October - Luna 12 - Lunar Orbiter, further development of artificial lunar satellite systems and conduct of scientific experiments in circumlunar space. Luna 12 was launched towards the Moon from an earth-orbiting platform and achieved a lunar orbit of of 100 km x 1740 ...
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1 November - Delays in Soviet manned lunar programs addressed. - Decree 'On lag of work on the N1-L3 and UR-500K-L1 programs' was issued....
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10 November - Lunar coordination problems - Kamanin diary complains of lunar coordination problems....
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11 November - Gemini 12 - Two very serious astronauts get it all right to end the program. Docked and redocked with Agena, demonstrating various Apollo scenarios including manual rendezvous and docking without assistance from ground control. Aldrin finally demonstrates abilit...
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11 November - Gemini 12 Agena Target - Docking target for Gemini 12....
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12 November - EVA Gemini 12-1 - Photographed earth and stars....
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13 November - EVA Gemini 12-2 - Tested tools and techniques for extravehicular activity....
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14 November - EVA Gemini 12-3 - Photographed earth limb and stars in ultraviolet....
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15 November - First N1 hardware arrives at Baikonur. - ...
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15 November - Landing of Gemini 12 - Retrofire occurred 94 hours after liftoff. Reentry was automatically controlled. The spacecraft landed at 19:20 GMT less than 5 km from the planned landing point on November 15. The crew was picked up by helicopter and deposited 28 minutes later on t...
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16 November - Government go-ahead for N-1 use in lunar program - Mishin's draft plan for the Soviet lunar landing was approved by an expert commission headed by Keldysh. The first N-1 launch was set for March 1968. At same meeting, Chelomei made a last ditch attempt to get his revised UR-700/LK-700 direct landing ...
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21 November - First Proton/Soyuz L1 begins assembly. - The first flight rocket (serial number 22701) began assembly on 21 November 1966, with mechanical assembly completed by 29 November. Electrical connections and tests were completed by 4 December 1966. Due to New Year’s holidays work did not resume un...
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28 November - Cosmos 133 - First test flight of Soyuz 7K-OK earth orbit spacecraft. A planned 'all up' test, with a second Soyuz to be launched the following day and automatically dock with Kosmos 133. This was to be followed by a manned link-up in December 1966. However Kosm...
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6 December - Apollo LM-to-CSM crew rescue said to be impossible - MSC Director of Flight Crew Operations Donald K. Slayton pointed out to ASPO Manager Joseph F. Shea that LM-to-CSM crew rescue was impossible. Slayton said...
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13 December - Apollo lunar landing research vehicle No 1 received - The number one lunar landing research vehicle (LLRV) test vehicle was received at MSC December 13, 1966. Its first flight at Ellington Air Force Base following facility and vehicle checkout was expected about February 1, 1967, with crew training in t...
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14 December - Soyuz 7K-OK s/n 2 - Second attempted flight of Soyuz 7K-OK (the spacecraft planned for the linkup with Ksomos 133). An analogue to Mercury Redstone's 'day we launched the tower' but with more disastorous consequences. The core stage ignited, but the strap-ons did not....
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21 December - Luna 13 - Soft landed on Moon 24 December 1966 at 18:01:00 GMT, Latitude 18.87 N, 297.95 E - Oceanus Procellarum. The petal encasement of the spacecraft was opened, antennas were erected, and radio transmissions to Earth began four minutes after the landing. O...
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31 December - 18 cosmonauts in lunar training - Gagarin, Komarov, Nikolayev, Bykovsky, Khrunov, Gorbatko, Voronov, Kolodin, Popovich, Gubarev, Artyukhin, Gylyayev, Belousov, Kolesnikov, Volynov, Doborvolsky, Zhobolov....
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