The Air Force ICBM Scientific Advisory Committee was transferred to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) to assure common interchange of technical information on all DoD missile programs. The Committee continued to act in an advisory capacity for the Western Development Division and the Air Force ballistic missile program.

Space Task Group management held a Capsule Review Board meeting. The first topic on the agenda was a follow-on Mercury program. Several types of missions were considered, including long-duration, rendezvous, artificial gravity, and flight tests of advanced equipment. Major conclusion was that a follow-on program needed to be specified in greater detail.

Martin-Baltimore conducted a static test-to-failure of the spacecraft/launch vehicle interface structure. Test results demonstrated a very satisfactory minimum structural margin of 23 percent above ultimate conditions expected to be met in the transonic buffet conditions of launch. Plans were made to hold a structures meeting in Houston on March 17-19, 1964, for final review of all load conditions, stress distribution, and margins, in readiness for the Gemini-Titan 1 mission.

The Saturn 503 S-IVB stage exploded and was destroyed at the Douglas Sacramento, Calif., Test Facility at 4:25 p.m. PST during a countdown. The exercise had progressed to 10 seconds before simulated launch (about 8 minutes before S-IVB ignition) when the explosion occurred. Additional Details: here....

Launch failure - but the abort system again functioned perfectly, taking the capsule to a safe landing (in Mongolia!). At 501 seconds into the flight one of the four engines of the second stage shut down, and remained shut down for 25 seconds. The ever-reliable SAS abort system detected the failure, and separated the capsule from the failed booster. Yet again a successful capsule recovery after a booster failure. Additional Details: here....

Mishin is attempting to set up a separate training centre for civilian cosmonauts at the Moscow Aviation Institute. Mishin and the civilian cosmonauts come to view the TsPK premises to get ideas. This is a new attack by Mishin, in Kamanin's eyes. Mishin has been ill for a long time, but it doesn't stop him from meddling in the details of work of his deputies. Now they are working on a Big Orbital Station (BOS) for 9-12 crew. This amounts to nothing more than a new move against Chelomei. Mishin is intent on monopolising manned spaceflight at any cost. He attempts to take over any other such projects allocated to Chelomei or Kozlov.

Unmanned supply vessel to Salyut 6. Delivery of fuel, consumable materials and equipment to the Salyut 6 station. Docked with Salyut 6 on 22 Jan 1978 10:12:14 GMT. Undocked on 6 Feb 1978 05:54:00 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 8 Feb 1978 02:00:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 3.91 days. Total docked time 14.82 days.

Direct broadcasting satellite (new generation of satellites) intended for development of the Russian television system and international cooperation. Also tested SPT-100 plasma engine. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 71 deg E in 1994-1996; 36 deg E in 1996-1999; 42 deg E in 2000. As of 5 September 2001 located at 37.30 deg E drifting at 0.121 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 67.44E drifting at 0.298E degrees per day.

During the period in which Atlantis and Mir were linked together the American TDRS-facilities were in use for the bulk of radio communications, thus anticipating the communication procedures of the future International Space Station Alpha. The Russians used their facilities only to discuss matters regarding the Mir-complex itself. With a few exceptions the Atlantis also took care for the movements (attitude) control of the huge space combination.

Atlantis separated from the Mir:

Atlantis undocked from the Mir on 20.01.1997 at 02.15.44 UTC. At 0357 UTC the engines of the Atlantis gave the separation burn for the ride home. After the undocking Atlantis remained in the free drift until the distance permitted firing of steering rockets. During the 2 flights of Atlantis around the Mir-complex no images have been transmitted from Mir. These had been recorded and transmitted to Earth later that day via Altair-1. Among them good images, for instance Atlantis flying away from under a Mir solar panel and several views of Atlantis moving away with a sight of the Earth in the background.

Soyuz-TM25: The next important operation will be the launch of Soyuz-TM25 from Baykonur on 10.02.1997 at 1409 UTC. Soyuz-TM25 will bring the 23d Main Expedition (Tsibliyev and Lazutkin) and the German astronaut Ewald to the Mir. (Stand-in crew: Musabayev, Budarin and Schlegel)

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

Flight controllers continue to manage electrical power through the batteries inside the Zarya module, recharging four of the six on-board power plants. Battery # 1, which has experienced some problems and will be replaced by Shuttle astronauts later this year on the next mission to the ISS, has been recharged and is currently connected to Zarya's electrical bus while other batteries complete their recharging. Additional Details: here....

Columbia's astronauts conducted scientific studies ranging from the behavior of granular materials in weightlessness to the effects of microgravity on fungi, and filmed the sprites associated with thunderstorms across the globe as their scientific research flight continued in its fifth day. Additional Details: here....

Student satellite for radiation studies, ejected from Cosmos 2414. The satellite was built by students at MGU (Moskovskiy Gosudarstvenniy Universitet) for the university's 250th anniversary, and was nicknamed 'Tatyana' since the university's anniversary day is St. Tatyana's day

India launched its 5th navigation satellite. The PSLV-XL delivered it to a subsynchronous transfer orbit. By early February it was in an inclined synchronous orbit at 35697 x 35874 km x 28.1 deg. IRNSS-R1C was in an near-equatorial orbit at 83E; the remainder are in the 28 degree inclined orbits, with R1A and R1B over about 55E and R1D and R1E over about 112E.