The 6555th Guided Missile Group (Test and Evaluation), located at the Air Force Missile Test Center (AFMTC) at Patrick AFB, Florida, was redesignated the 6555th Test Wing (Development). Concurrently, AFBMD's Office of the Assistant Commander for Missile Tests at AFMTC was discontinued, and its personnel, equipment, and functions reassigned to the new 6555th Test Wing.

Rosen Committee studies in November and December indicated that the most flexible choice for Apollo was the Saturn C-4, with two required for the earth orbit rendezvous approach or one for the lunar orbit rendezvous mission, with a smaller landed payload. The panel rejected solid motors again, but Rosen himself still pushed for Nova. An extra F-1 engine was 'slid in' for insurance, resulting in the Saturn C-5 configuration. The Manned Space Flight Management Council decided at its first meeting that the Saturn C-5 launch vehicle would have a first stage configuration of five F-1 engines and a second stage configuration of five J-2 engines. The third stage would be the S-IVB with one J-2 engine. It recommended that the contractor for stage integration of the Saturn C-1 be Chrysler Corporation and that the contractor for stage integration of the Saturn C-5 be The Boeing Company. Contractor work on the Saturn C-5 should proceed immediately to provide a complete design study and a detailed development plan before letting final contracts and assigning large numbers of contractor personnel to Marshall Space Flight Center or Michoud.

Second attempted launch of Cosmos 63S1 small launch vehicle 2LK with a DS-1 satgellite. This time the new second stage failed. The oxidiser was exhausted before orbital velocity could be reached due to uncontrolled pumping of liquid oxygen into the combustion chamber. The upper stage and satellite impacted in the Kurile Islands. An Expert Commission headed by Ustinov was convened to review the program.

First test of a side-looking radar from outer space. The mission lasted only four days, as planned, before the batteries ran out of power during orbits 72-73. The radar operated 14 times in orbit, between 22 and 26 December, imaging swaths of the northeastern and western United States. Data collected from the 14 radar passes were transmitted over a wideband (UHF) data link as they were obtained ("real time") to the Vandenberg or New Boston ground station in view. In addition, during the first seven radar passes data were recorded on film on board the satellite, and on 23 December, during the 33rd orbit, the reentry capsule was jettisoned and recovered. The vehicle and payload performance were within acceptable limits on all parameters. The radar maps covered about 80,000 square miles and the resolution was better than 15 feet in azimuth and 80 feet in ground range. The mission, not declassified until 2012, proved the feasibility of space-based surveillance, leading to the operational Lacrosse satellites of the 1980's.

Robert C. Seamans, Jr., was sworn in as Deputy Administrator of NASA, succeeding Hugh L. Dryden who died December 2. Seamans would also retain his present position as Associate Administrator for an indefinite period of time.

NASA Administrator James E. Webb administered the oath of office. He had announced in Austin, Tex., on December 10, that President Lyndon B. Johnson had accepted his recommendation that Seamans be named to the number two NASA post.

For the first time, Launch Complex 41, at the just completed Integrate-Launch-Transfer (ITL) complex at Cape Canaveral was used to launch the third Titan IIIC research and development space booster (Vehicle #8). As with the second vehicle, this Titan IIIC performed flawlessly throughout the liftoff and boost segments of the flight plan. However, severe difficulties were encountered when the Transtage engines malfunctioned and did not restart for the programmed third burn. Thus, the vehicle failed to reach near-synchronous equatorial orbit with its four-satellite payload. Lincoln Experimental Satellites LES-3 and LES-4 were released as was Oscar IV, but the OV2-3 payload remained attached to the Transtage.

OSCAR IV was launched piggyback with three United States Air Force satellites. The launch vehicle had a partial failure and placed the spacecraft in a low orbit preventing widespread amateur use. Orbit 29120 x 168 km. Inclination 26.8 degrees. Period 587.5 minutes. Weight 18.1 kg. Four monopole antennas. OSCAR IV was built by the TRW Radio Club of Redondo Beach, California. It had a 3 Watt 10 kHz wide linear transponder (144 MHz uplink and 432 MHz downlink). In operation until March 16, 1966. Re-entry April 12, 1976. Total operation 85 days. OSCAR IV provided the first US-Soviet amateur link.

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. On December 25 and 26, 1966, the spacecraft television system transmitted panoramas of the nearby lunar landscape at different sun angles. Each panorama required approximately 100 minutes to transmit. The spacecraft was equipped with a mechanical soil-measuring penetrometer, a dynamograph, and a radiation densitometer for obtaining data on the mechanical and physical properties and the cosmic-ray reflectivity of the lunar surface. It is believed that transmissions from the spacecraft ceased before the end of December 1966.

The first SV-5D Precision Recovery Including Maneuvering Entry (PRIME) maneuverable reentry vehicle was launched from Vandenberg by the first Series 7000 Atlas standard launch vehicle (SLV-3, Vehicle #7001). Managed by Space Systems Division, PRIME was designed to explore and advance the development of possible future manned and unmanned lifting body vehicles that would have the capability of operating like a spacecraft in orbit and of flying and maneuvering like an aircraft in the sensible atmosphere. Research was to be applicable to later Space Transportation System (STS) technology. The first test of the X-23A SV-5D lifting body re-entry shape. It was a zero cross-range suborbital flight, with recovery 6935 km downrange. The ballute deployed at 30.440 m, followed by the main parachute at 13,700 m, and the vehicle was descending within 275 m of the target point. Nevertheless the air-snatch was unsuccessful, and the vehicle sank. However 90% of the planned telemetry was successfully transmitted by radio.

An Air Force System Management Directive (SMD) confirmed cancellation of the advanced Mark 17 reentry vehicle development. This revised the operational deployment schedule for Minuteman III (LGM-30G), and slipped Force Modernization of the Minuteman wings by an additional six months.

Apollo 8 (AS-503) was launched from KSC Launch Complex 39, Pad A, at 7:51 a.m. EST Dec. 21 on a Saturn V booster. The spacecraft crew was made up of Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders. Apollo 8 was the first spacecraft to be launched by a Saturn V with a crew on board, and that crew became the first men to fly around the moon.

All launch and boost phases were normal and the spacecraft with the S-IVB stage was inserted into an earth-parking orbit of 190.6 by 183.2 kilometers above the earth. After post-insertion checkout of spacecraft systems, the S-IVB stage was reignited and burned 5 minutes 9 seconds to place the spacecraft and stage in a trajectory toward the moon - and the Apollo 8 crew became the first men to leave the earth's gravitational field.

The spacecraft separated from the S-IVB 3 hours 20 minutes after launch and made two separation maneuvers using the SM's reaction control system. Eleven hours after liftoff, the first midcourse correction increased velocity by 26.4 kilometers per hour. The coast phase was devoted to navigation sightings, two television transmissions, and system checks. The second midcourse correction, about 61 hours into the flight, changed velocity by 1.5 kilometers per hour.

The 4-minute 15-second lunar-orbit-insertion maneuver was made 69 hours after launch, placing the spacecraft in an initial lunar orbit of 310.6 by 111.2 kilometers from the moon's surface - later circularized to 112.4 by 110.6 kilometers. During the lunar coast phase the crew made numerous landing-site and landmark sightings, took lunar photos, and prepared for the later maneuver to enter the trajectory back to the earth.

On the fourth day, Christmas Eve, communications were interrupted as Apollo 8 passed behind the moon, and the astronauts became the first men to see the moon's far side. Later that day , during the evening hours in the United States, the crew read the first 10 verses of Genesis on television to earth and wished viewers "goodnight, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you - all of you on the good earth."

Subsequently, TV Guide for May 10-16, 1969, claimed that one out of every four persons on earth - nearly 1 billion people in 64 countries - heard the astronauts' reading and greeting, either on radio or on TV; and delayed broadcasts that same day reached 30 additional countries.

On Christmas Day, while the spacecraft was completing its 10th revolution of the moon, the service propulsion system engine was fired for three minutes 24 seconds, increasing the velocity by 3,875 km per hr and propelling Apollo 8 back toward the earth, after 20 hours 11 minutes in lunar orbit. More television was sent to earth on the way back.

SAMSO awarded contracts to three companies to prepare preliminary designs of the Global Positioning System Phase II/III control segment. The companies were General Dynamics/Electronics Division, IBM/Federal System Division, and Martin Marietta/Denver Division.

Replaced Molniya 3-16. Operation of the long-range telephone and telegraph radio communications system in the USSR; transmission of USSR Central Television programmes to stations in the Orbita network and within the framework of international cooperation.

Investigations of the planet Venus and Halley's Comet. The APV-V plasma antenna did not deploy until the first mid-course correction burn. Deployed lander and balloon at Venus on June 14, 1985. The surface experiments of the lander failed to send back data because they were inadvertently switched on at an altitude of 20 km. Apparently high winds activated a G-force sensor that was to automatically switch on the surface package after the jolt of touchdown. The bus continued in heliocentric orbit and rendezvoused with comet Halley on March 9, 1986. The images of the comet were nearly lost when a television sensor failed shortly before the flyby. A back-up sensor was activated just in time. Fitted with scientific apparatus and equipment built in the USSR, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, German Democratic Republic, Poland, France, Federal Republic of Germany and C zechoslovakia.

Soyuz TM-6 landed at 09:57 GMT with the crew of Chretien, Manarov and Titov Vladimir aboard. Undocked from Mir 21 December 1989 at 03:33 GMTwith the crew of Chretien, Manarov and Titov Vladimir aboard. Revised software installed as a result of TM-5 abort overloaded computer. Landing planned for 06:48 aborted. Backup program used. Orbital Module retained through retrofire. Landed December 21, 1988 09:57 GMT, 180 km SE of Dzhezkazgan.

The natural drag caused a considerable decrease of Mir's altitude. On 16.12.1998 the apogee was 355.6 KM, the perigee 345.3 KM. Even if the Russians stick to their obligations in the ISS field and dump the Mir complex in July 1999, some orbit corrections will be necessary to reduce the decay rate. There have been plans to increase the altitude of the orbit on 22.12.1998 and to do the same in March 1999. On 21.12.1998 I could not yet get confirmation that the correction is still scheduled for 22.12. So it might be possible and if this will happen, the predictions based on Kepler elements older than 22.12 will become more and more inaccurate.

Sun orbit:

These days the Mir-space station is flying on a sun orbit. So Mir remains in sunlight continuously and does not fly in eclipses at all. This means an extra burden for the thermoregulation of the complex. It is very warm on board, but the cosmonauts have not complained about this inconvenience thus far.

Elektron (oxygen generator):

For some weeks during communication sessions the crew reported on the internal pressure of one of the Elektrons. The values they reported were between 1.1 an 1.3. This value should remain not much higher than 1.1. After replacement of a unit or part of that Elektron, they no longer reported these values.

Mir-routine:

The crew executed a lot of experiments and most of their working hours were used for these activities. Less time was spent on maintenance and repair work of the life systems, for instance they refuelled the hydraulic thermoregulation system of the Kvant-2 module. They also had to repair electronic parts of experimental equipment (power units, interfaces, cables a.s.o.).

Among the executed experiments were the study of plant growth in the greenhouse Svet, the determination of optical characteristics of the earth's atmosphere with the photometer EFO-2, and with the magnetic spectrometer Mariya the study of high energetic particles in space and in the radiation belts of the earth.

Regularly the furnaces Krater, Gallar and Optizon passed in review. And the cosmonauts spoke about Ionozond, Dakon, Doze, Sigma and Alisa.

The cosmonauts also had to undergo medical checks while training on the home trainer (velo-ergometer) and the treadmill. A few times the electro cardio cassette sounds were transmitted via the VHF phone channel.

Mood on board:

Almost no complaining or dissatisfaction could be derived from radio traffic, but there also was neither exuberance nor cheerfulness. With TsUP, Padalka settles his matters in an efficient, clear and in a business-like way. Rarely Avdeyev gets the opportunity to use his nice Russian to bring up something, but even then Padalka quickly reconquers the microphone. During passes within my range, I did not hear reactions from the cosmonauts on the beginning of the ISS-assembly. Without comments they listened to the news about the ISS, relayed to them by TsUP .

Znamya 2.5:

The experiment with this solar reflector after the undocking of Progress-M40 will, if nothing changes, take place a few days before the launch of the Soyuz-TM29 with the 27th Main Expedition to Mir on 22.02.1999.

Spacewalks (EVA-s):

No more EVA's are planned for the present (26th M.E.) crew.

Communications:

Now and then the Luch-1/Gelios satellite over 77 degrees East is in use for Mir-TsUP communications. And just like during the use of the old Altairs, this does not always go smoothly. For instance on 20.12.1998 family and friends gathered at TsUP for an Television session with Mir, but after 20 or 30 seconds the communications stopped.

And to conclude: For you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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

Korean Multipurpose Satellite; carried an ocean color sensor developed by TRW and particle detectors. KOMPSAT was built by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) based on a test model built by TRW; it used the TRW STEP Lightsat bus and had a mass of around 500 kg, with 73 kg of hydrazine fuel.

Measured the integrated solar energy output from 0.2 to 2 microns. Carried instrument deleted from Terra spacecraft, studying the total solar output. Failed on 2013 December 14 due to battery problems, months after a review recommended its continued operation. The ACRIM series of experiments, critical data for climate change studies, flew on Solar Max (1980), Spacelab-1 (1983), UARS (1991), and ACRIMSAT. The similar TIM instrument on the SORCE satellite (2003) continued operating, but it was unclear if it would continue in operation until a replacement instrument would be launched on the JPSS satellite in 2017 at the earliest.

Signal Intelligence Satellite. Launch delayed December 19. The booster put the satellite into an initial orbit of 145 x 405 km x 65.0 deg. At apogee the satellite ignited its own propulsion system to increase velocity by about 70-80 m/s and circularize the orbit.

Mass model payload. First launch of a heavy EELV. The demonstration satellite was supposed to have been inserted into a sub-geosynchronous 36,350 km circular orbit but was instead deployed in a 19,035 km x 36,413 km orbit following a 5-hour and 50-minute flight. A shorter than expected first burn of the Centaur upper stage led to an orbit well below that planned. The Air Force EELV program office claimed that the primary flight objectives were accomplished. These included the heavy boost phase, flight of the new five-meter diameter Centaur upper stage and five-meter payload fairing, extended coast, upper stage third burn and payload separation, and activation and usage of Space Launch Complex 37B. Delayed from September 2003, July 3, September 10, November 18, December 10, 11 and 12.

One of a pair of student-built nanosats for stero cloud imagery. The satellites did not contact the ground after separation from the booster in a lower-than-planned orbit and their fate was unclear. It was believed that they separated but re-entered rapidly from the 105 km perigee orbit.

Delayed from late July 2005. Launch delayed from August 23, October, November 14 and 30, December 8, 16 and 20. Dry mass 1385 kg. The satellite was equipped with Ku-band and C-band transponders and would join other Insats in providing telecommunications and television services to the Indian subcontinent. After three engine burns the satellite reached geostationary altitude over the Indian Ocean at 04:30 GMT on 26 December, then deployed its solar arrays. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 83.00E drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

African communications satellite with a hybrid Ku/C-band payload. Nominal owner RascomStarQAF of Port Louis, Mauritius, a subsidiary of the Regional African Satellite Communications Organization (RASCOM) based in Cote d'Ivoire. The mission and satellite control centers were located in Cameroun and Libya. The satellite was to provide voice, data and internet services throughout Africa. Ahelium leak in the propulsion system prevented use of the primary apogee motor. Reaction control motors were used instead to slowly move the satellite into geosynchronous orbit. The satellite was expected to reach its operating location, but with a shorter-than-planned operational lifetime.

Launched by Horizons Satellite Holdings LLC, a joint venture of Intelsat and the Japanese JSAT company. To be placed at 74 deg W to serve United States, eastern Canada, and the Caribbean with communication services using its 16-transmitter Ku-band communications payload.

On Dec 17 the Mobile Transporter (the truck that the SSRMS Canadarm-2 robot arm rides on) got stuck just after leaving worksite 4, one of the stations on the truss railway. The MT has two CETA carts attached to it, and the brakes on one CETA were accidentally engaged - probably left in the wrong position on an earlier spacewalk. Since a stuck MT is considered a safety issue for dockings, astronauts Kelly and Kopra made a spacewalk on Dec 21 to release the brake. They also completed some left-over cabling tasks. The Quest airlock was depressurized at about 1238 UTC and repressurized at 1601 UTC. Kelly and Kopra used EMU suits 3010 and 3011. The MT was now working fine.

First Progress-MS cargo ship. Progress-MS was similar to previous Progress ships but with improved onboard systems. It docked with the Pirs module at 1027 UTC Dec 23. Progress MS-01 undocked from the Pirs module at 0536 UTC on Jul 1, backed off to 180m, and redocked at 0605 UTC under TORU remote control. During redocking there was an incorrect thruster firing that made the vehicle swing visibly from side to side. The problem was reportedly under investigation but did not affect Progress MS-01's final undocking, which happened at 0348 UTC Jul 3. Progress MS-01 was deorbited and destroyed over the South Pacifc at 0750 UTC Jul 3.

China's Tan Weixing (Carbon Satellite or TanSat) carried a high resolution grating spectrometer to measure CO2 and O2 distribution and a wide field of view cloud/aerosol imager. The 620 kg satellite was to map global CO2 sources and sinks with a precision of 1 percent. Three smaller payloads from the Shanghai microsatellite center were also carried. 0138LT SSO.

Placed in geosynchronous orbit at 135 deg E. Ariane vehicle L587, mission VA234, placed two comm satellites in orbit. JCSAT 15, for Sky Perfect JSAT of Japan, was to become JCSAT-110A operational at 110E to replace JCSAT-110R. Loral 1300 class satellites built in MDA/Loral's Palo Alto factory.

See Kosmos 2533 (Blagovest 13L). Blagovest military communications satellite. Some reports suggested a problem with the final Briz-M burn, but on December 29 it was shown by US tracking in a 35421 x 35802 km x 0.2 deg orbit drifting over 77E.