Goddard began tests of two propellant pumps, called A and D. These were selected for use in four proving-stand tests (P1 to P4), from January 6 to February 28, 1939. From these tests it was concluded that a small chamber, or gas generator, producing warm oxygen gas, should be developed for operating the turbines.

A contract was awarded to the Convair Division of the General Dynamics Corporation for the development and fabrication of the Atlas (XSM-65) airframe and control system. Included were the integration and assembly of the various subsystems with the airframe and control system, and for checkout and testing.

British-American physicist mission specialist astronaut 1987-2013. Flew in space six times. Appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Operations in 2004. 373 cumulative days in space. 6 spaceflights, 373.8 days in space. Flew to orbit on STS-45 (1992), STS-56, STS-63, STS-84, STS-103, Soyuz TMA-3.

A meeting was held at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Headquarters to discuss the method for spacecraft heat protection. Two plans were considered: beryllium heat sink and ablation. Based on this meeting a decision was made to modify the spacecraft structure in order to accomodate interchangeably ablation heat shields and beryllium heat sinks , and orders were placed for 12 and 6, respectively. The material chosen for the ablation heat was Fiberglas bonded with a modified phenolic resin. This material was found to have good structural properties even after being subjected to reentry heating.

The Army Ordnance Missile Command (AOMC), the Air Force, and missile contractors presented to the ARPA-NASA Large Booster Review Committee their views on the quickest and surest way for the United States to attain large booster capability. The Committee decided that the Juno V approach advocated by AOMC was best and NASA started plans to utilize the Juno V booster.

The Manned Lunar Landing Task Group (Low Committee) set up by the Space Exploration Program Council was instructed to prepare a position paper for the NASA Fiscal Year 1962 budget presentation to Congress. The paper was to be a concise statement of NASA's lunar program for Fiscal Year 1962 and was to present the lunar mission in term of both direct ascent and rendezvous. The rendezvous program would be designed to develop a manned spacecraft capability in near space, regardless of whether such a technique would be needed for manned lunar landing. In addition to answering such questions as the reason for not eliminating one of the two mission approaches, the Group was to estimate the cost of the lunar mission and the date of its accomplishment, though not in specific terms. Although the decision to land a man on the moon had not been approved, it was to be stressed that the development of the scientific and technical capability for a manned lunar landing was a prime NASA goal, though not the only one. The first meeting of the Group was to be held on January 9.

Although some retesting began shortly after the Gemini-Titan 2 mission was scrubbed on December 9, 1964, most activity in preparing GLV-2 for another launch attempt was curtailed until the new actuators arrived. Subsystems retesting then began. The final combined systems test - the Simulated Flight Test - was completed January 14, with launch scheduled for January 19.

Kamanin reviews the American and Soviet space plans as known to him. In 1965 the Americans flew five manned Gemini missions, and the Soviets, a single Voskhod. In 1966, the Americans plan to accomplish the first space docking with Gemini 8, demonstrate a first-orbit rendezvous and docking with Gemini 10, demonstrate powered flight using a docked Agena booster stage with Gemini 11, and rendezvous with an enormous Pegasus satellite. Against this, the Soviets have no program, no flight schedule. Kamanin can only hope that during the year 2-3 Voskhod flights and 2-3 Soyuz flights may be conducted.

Standard Test Missile 15W, a Minuteman III carrying three Mark 12A reentry vehicles, was successfully launched from Vandenberg AFB. The test provided data on the performance of experimental nosetip and heatshield materials and was the first to use complete Guidance Improvement Program software.

The launch of this ship with the relief crew of 3 will take place from Baykonur on 8.01.94 at 1005 UTC. If all goes according to schedule Soyuz-TM18 will dock to Mir on 10.01.94 at abt. 1148 UTC.

Soyuz-TM17:

The present Mir-crew (Tsibliyev and Serebrov) is already involved in activities related to their oncoming relief and their return to earth on 14.01.94. On 5.01.94 they remained on board of this ship for a long time to check systems and to look for areas in which they can stow things, which have to be returned to earth.

Progress-M17:

This freighter is still flying autonomously after the separation from Mir on 11.08.93. The Russians left Progress-M17 in space to check the lifetime of the systems due to the future use by the Americans of a Soyuz-TM modification as ACVR (rescue boat) for their space station. During a manoeuvre before Christmas the station came in a lower perigee (235 KM) due to a failure in the attitude control system. TsUP lost control over the freighter and they plan to have her decayed in the end of February this year. Probably this will happen spontaneously: the present orbital elements will lead to a decay at abt 28.03.94 (+ or - 3 days).

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

The official Chinese Liberation Daily reported that a Chinese manned flight would take place "by the end of this century or the beginning of the next," . This would make China the first country in more than 30 years to join the United States and Russia in the exclusive club of manned mission launchers.

Flight controllers continue to manage the charging of the batteries on the Zarya module and are watching over other systems on the station. Electrical power management continues to be the focus, with the Station operating on the power generated by four of six batteries inside Zarya. Batteries 1 and 2 remain disconnected from the electrical bus. Over the next two weeks, controllers plan to recharge battery 1 and place it in a backup, or standby mode, to be used if necessary. The four batteries currently servicing Zarya are providing more than enough power for all ISS systems. Additional Details: here....

Coriolis was an Air Force Space Test Program three-year meteorological science mission to demonstrate the viability of using polarimetry to measure ocean surface wind speed and direction from space, and to demonstrate predictions of geomagnetic disturbances through continuous observation of Coronal Mass Ejections. Launch delayed from August 22, November 15, December 15, 16, 17 and 18, 2002 and January 5, 2003.

Thaicom Plc of Bangkok communications satellite with Ku and C-band payloads for coverage of southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The initial burn of the Falcon 9 second stage reached a 197 x 497 km parking orbit, and a second burn sent the Thaicom 6 payload to a 375 x 90,039 km x 22.5 deg supersync transfer orbit. By February 3 the satellite had manuevered to a 35,784 x 35,789 km x 0.1 deg geostationary orbit over 78.4 deg East.

Astronauts Kimbrough and Whitson, in suits EMU 3008 and 3006, depressurized the Quest airlock at about 1220 UTC for US EVA-38. They moved various batteries and adapter plates as part of a refurbishment of the ISS power system. Bundle 1 of the Node 3 axial shields were stored outside Quest.