The first Secretary of Defense, James V. Forrestal, in his initial report to President Harry Truman, included a brief item indicating that the earth satellite program, which was being carried out independently by the military services, was assigned to the Committee on Guided Missiles for coordination.

In a memorandum to Don R. Ostrander, Director of Office of Launch Vehicle Programs, and Abe Silverstein, Director of Office of Space Flight Programs, NASA Associate Administrator Richard E. Horner described the proposed Space Exploration Program Council, which would be concerned primarily with program development and implementation. The Council would be made up of the Directors of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Goddard Space Flight Center, the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, the Office of Space Flight Programs, and the Office of Launch Vehicle Programs. Horner would be Chairman of the Council which would have its first meeting on January 28-29, 1960 (later changed to February 10-11, 1960).

The appointments of Dr. Joseph F. Shea as Deputy Director for Systems Engineering, Office of Manned Space Flight at NASA Headquarters, and Dr. Arthur Rudolph as Assistant Director of Systems Engineering was announced. Dr. Rudolph would serve as liaison between vehicle development at Marshall Space Flight Center and the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.

The Lunar Sample Receiving Laboratory, currently being planned for construction at MSC, would support - in addition to its vital role as a quarantine area - two important activities:

1. Research on the samples to support succeeding Apollo flights.
2. Sorting and distribution of lunar samples to the scientific community.

In the initial activity report outlining MSC's support to the Air Force on the MOL, Gemini Program Manager Charles W. Mathews summarized activity to date. He cited receipt on 20 November 1965 of authority to transfer surplus Gemini equipment to the MOL project. Since that time, he said, MSC had delivered to the Air Force several boilerplate test vehicles and a variety of support and handling equipment. MOL program officials and astronauts had also visited Houston for technical discussions and briefings.

On 29 December 1970 Grumman and Boeing received contract NAS9-11160 to study two-stage-to-orbit shuttle configurations using both internal and external liquid hydrogen tanks. Reviews with NASA in January and March 1971 showed there could be significant weight, risk, and cost reductions through use of a booster with a heat-sink airframe and an orbiter equipped with an external liquid hydrogen tank.

Biological research; carried monkeys Ivasha and Krosha. International study of the adaptation of living organisms to conditions of space flight. After 12 days in Earth orbit, the capsule was recovered 50 deg 46 min N, 73 deg 08 min E, about 100 kilometers north of the city of Karaganda. The Cosmos 2229 mission was also referred to as Bion 10, because it was the tenth in a series of Soviet/Russian unmanned satellites carrying biological experiments. Additional Details: here....

After a test period in the first 3 days of December, the complex could continue its winter sleep. The results of the tests were positive and gave the responsible experts at TsUP the confidence that they would be able to interfere if necessary, that they could control the attitude and movements of the complex and if needed to switch on the main computer (TsVM-1) and speed up the gyrodynes. So it was obvious that the analogue computer BUPO can be used. The concern about the small air leakage remains. During this test period the orbit of Mir was raised somewhat with the use of the engines of the freighter Progress-M42. Daily the complex is loosing a few hundred meters. Now the perigee is 316 KM and the apogee 322 KM.

The future of the station: The promise to take a decision about Mir's near future before the end of this year has not been kept. The last information about an eventual decision was that this will take place before 15.01.2000, although it is not clear if this will happen. The Head of the RAKA, the Russian NASA, is against the prolongation of the exploitation of the Mir-station. Nevertheless he accepted 2 draft scenario's between which the ultimate choice has to be made. Which of the 2 will be chosen depends on the destination of the money 1.5 billion rubles (approx. 58 million dollars) earmarked for the Mir-exploitation. In the opinion of Koptev this money is badly needed for other purposes, for instance for communication, meteorological, navigation and military satellites, but also for the Russian obligations in the framework of the ISS. A week ago Koptev assured Goldin that Russia will stick to her promise to take the Mir-complex out of orbit.

The first draft plan, assuming that the Mir-station will be de-orbited in 2000, starts with the launch of the tanker Progress-M1 number. 1 on 24.01.2000 and concludes with the de-orbiting of the complex on 30.06.2000. This plan also foresees in an extra manned mission, the Main Expedition 28, consisting of 2 Russians (launch foreseen on 30.04.2000) and 1 extra tanker, the Progress-M1 number. 2.

The second draft plan, supported by RKK Energiya, foresees in the continuation of the Mir-exploitation during the whole year 2000. Apart from Main Expedition 28, there should be a Main Expedition 29 and the delivery of 3 tankers of the Progress-M1 type. This plan does not include a planned date for an eventual de-orbit of the complex before 1.01.2001.

I wish you all a smooth transfer to the New Millennium (still convinced that this starts on the first second of the first day of the next year 2000), a Happy and Prosperous New Year and the acceptance and the execution of the 2nd plan.

Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202

Iran's Telecommunications Corporation said it would select one satellite supplier from bids received from France, Russia, China and India. The long-planned Zohreh communication satellite would be the first domestic communications satellite to serve Iran's 60 millions population. A decision was expected in early 2001, but yet again it seemed the project was postponed.

Final unmanned test of the Shenzhou spacecraft. First night launch of the CZ-2F was viewed by Party leaders on a very cold but clear night. The spacecraft carried fifty-two science payloads in four main areas: microwave Earth observation, space environment monitoring, microgravity fluid physics, and biological technology research. The spacecraft's reentry capsule was successfully recovered on 5 January 2003 at 1116 UT. The Chinese released the news and photographs of the capsule in the dusk snow only an hour later. The landing site was 40 km from Hohhot (40.51deg N, 111.38 deg E). As in prior missions, the orbital module continued in orbit. Chinese astronauts trained on the actual flight hardware before the launch and it was officially announced that this successful mission set the stage for a first Chinese manned spaceflight in the second half of 2003. Western observors noted that the orbit and ground track allowed launch of a second rendezvous vehicle, an indication of future manned space station missions. Shenzhou 4 carried 52 scientific payloads including a microwave radiometer using a reflector antenna, installed on top of the orbital module.

Delayed from November, December 1 and 6. AMC-23 was to provide Ku-band multimedia and telecommunications services to Pacific rim countries over a planned 16 year life. A C-band payload was partly leased to the Japanese JSAT system. The Briz-M upper stage separated from the three-stage Proton launch vehicle at suborbital velocity, then conducted five engine burns before delivering the satellite to a 6193 km x 35,615 km x 18.5 deg geosynchronous transfer orbit at 11:48 GMT. The satellite would use its own Astrium S400 apogee engine to circularize the orbit at geostationary altitude. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 171.97E drifting at 0.002W degrees per day.