The initial Atlas Series B missile flight test vehicle (3B) malfuncticr.ed and broke up 60 seconds after launch from the Air Force Missile Test Center at Cape Canaveral. To the basic Series A airframe, the Series B missiles added the complete North American Aviation MA-1 propulsion cluster of booster and sustainer engines, General Electric's Mod II airborne radio inertial guidance system (open loop), and GE's Mark II nose cone. First full-powered flight of USAF Atlas B ICBM using both the sustainer and booster engines. 'Marginally successful'.

Maximum Speed - 5969 kph. Maximum Altitude - 106010 m. Astronaut wings flight. 80 cm diameter balloon dragged on 30 m line to measure air density. First X-15 astronaut flight (FAI definition); fourth astronaut wings flight (USAF definition). Air dropped in Smith Ranch Lake DZ.

Work on the original N1-L3 had begun in 1963. This had been preceded by two years of working on a draft project for the LK lunar lander and its propulsion system. But there was no money for full scale development -- no code name from Gosplan against which to charge such work. It was annoying that Chelomei, Glushko, and Yangel were wasting resources on alternate designs at the same time. Additional Details: here....

MSC directed Grumman to implement changes in weights of the LEM:

NASA was acquiring eight KC-135 aircraft and three ships to help maintain communications during Apollo moon flights. In addition, two ships of the existing DOD instrumentation fleet were being remodeled for support of the Apollo lunar mission's reentry phase. The KC-135 jet transports would be used during reentry to combat the effects of the plasma sheath blackout which had drowned out communications on previous manned launchings. In addition, three primary ground stations were being prepared at Goldstone, Calif.; Canberra, Australia; and Madrid, Spain.

Earth magnetic tail measurements. Lunar Orbit (Selenocentric). The Westinghouse Aerospace Division, under contract to National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center, engaged in the system design, integration, assembly and launch support for Anchored Interplanetary Monitoring Platform Satellite, officially designated Explorer 35 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It was launched on July 19, 1967, with the primary objectives of investigation of interplanetary plasma and the interplanetary magnetic field out to and at the lunar distance, in either a captured lunar orbit or a geocentric orbit of the earth. In the geocentric orbit, the apogee was near or beyond the lunar distance. In a lunar orbit, additional objectives included obtaining data on dust distribution, lunar gravitational field, ionosphere, magnetic field, and radiation environment around the moon. AIMP-E also studied spatial and temporal relationships of geophysical and interplanetary phenomena simultaneously being studied by several other National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellites. The investigation in the vicinity of the moon provided for measurements of the characteristics of the interplanetary dust distribution, solar and galactic cosmic rays, as well as a study of the magnetohydrodynamic wake of the earth in the interplanetary medium at the lunar distances.

During day five of the flight, the crews concentrated on docking exercises and experiments that involved the two ships in the undocked mode. During the interval between the first undocking and the second docking, the Apollo crew placed its craft between Soyuz and the sun so that the diameter of the service module formed a disk which blocked out the sun. This artificial solar eclipse, as viewed from Soyuz, permitted Leonov and Kubasov to photograph the solar corona. Additional Details: here....

High resolution photo surveillance; film capsule; maneuverable; also performed earth resource tasks. Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation.

The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.

Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. Of 25 Americans, eight pilots and 17 mission specialists.

Progress vehicle, given Cosmos designation instead of Progress because control lost early in mission but regained later. Resupplied Salyut 7. On departure briefly undocked and redocked to verify reliability of docking system. Transported of various cargoes to the Salyut-7 orbital station. Docked with Salyut 7 on 21 Jul 1985 15:05:00 GMT. Undocked on 28 Aug 1985 21:50:00 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 30 Aug 1985 01:20:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 3.23 days. Total docked time 38.28 days.

Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Launch vehicle put payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit with GCS trajectory option. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 175 deg E in 1995-1997.

TAOS was a technology demonstration satellite whose purpose is to demonstrate autonomous space navigation systems to reduce satellite ground support needs. Satellite operations were interrupted when an inertial measurement unit failed. During the following two month period, the satellite's solar panels could not be properly sun-pointed, resulting in a loss of satellite power. Vehicle control was regained following the development of a new satellite control system.

The docking at the aft port (Kvant-1 +X-axis) took place on 18.07.1999 at 17.53.23 UTC. The approach and docking were executed in the automatic regime by the system Kurs.

The final phase of the operation was going on during the first pass for my position in Mir's orbit 76637, 1746-1751 UTC. Afanasyev reported distances, approach speeds and other crucial data.

At 17.46.58 distance 150 Meters, approach speed 0.1 M/sec. At 17.47.15: 150 M, 0.4 M/sec., deviation somewhat to the left, 1 degree and along Y-axis 2 degrees.

At 17.47.28 moving to the centre, approx. 0.5 degree to the left , down along Y-axis 0.5 degree. Afansyev was still reporting these data during LOS. Last reported distance was 48 Meters, appr. speed 0.27 M/sec.

Opening hatches to the Progress-M42: This took place at 1835 UTC, so very soon after the docking. Afanasyev reported later on that the Progress-M42 was clean, quite a relief for there had been some concerns about this due to the fact that the launch had been put back so often.

Already on 19.07.1999 the crew started the transfer of cargo from the Progress-M42 into the station. The crew also worked on the integration of the engines for docking and orientation of the freighter into the system for the control of the movements of the complex in the Base Block and on the test of this system.

Spacewalks (EVA-s) crew 27th Main Expedition: The delayed arrival of the Progress-M42 did not result in changes of the schedule for the still planned 2 EVA-s. These will be made on 23 and 27.07.1999.

On 23.07 the exit hatch will be opened at 1115 UTC and closed at 1654 UTC.

No decision has been made for the times of the EVA on 27.07.

End of the 27th Main Expedition: The departure of the crew of this expedition has been put back from 23rd until 28.08.1999. This on a request of CNES. As of yet the reasons for this request are not fully clear. Better light conditions on 28.08 than on 23.08.1999 were mentioned, but possibly there are still other reasons.

Communications during 2nd day (17.07) of the flight of Progress-M42: During the 18th orbit telemetry and beacon signals in the 166, 165 and 922.755 mc bands could be monitored between 19.27.40 UTC and 19.32.00 UTC.

During the 19th orbit the signals were very strong between 2058 and 2105 UTC.

With the Doppler effect (dip on 922.755 mc) TCA (time closest approach) could be determined at 21.01.50 UTC There were in the Benelux and England clouds permitted this observers reported good visual observations of Progress-M42 around 2100 UTC.

Last Progress freighter during manned status Mir-space station: More or less the arrival of this last freighter is a historical event.

The eventual Progress which has to give the latest impulse to put the complex on a destruction course (in the beginning of 2000) has to dock during the autonomous flight of the complex.

all flight of freighters, in the beginning the Progresses, later on the Progresses-M.

It is not yet clear how the communications during flights of Russian transport and cargo ships to the International Space Station will be organised. My possibilities depend on those communications, so it might be that for me Progress-M42 has been the very last.

But nevertheless I was able to monitor this flight very well and this made it possible to draft an extensive report.

C.M. van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202

Mightysat 2.1, also known as Sindri, used a Spectrum Astro SA-200B satellite bus. The spacecraft carried a hyperspectral imager for earth imaging and spectroscopy, as well as satellite technology experiments such as advanced solar arrays. An Aerospace Corp./DARPA picosatellite experiment, consisting of two small boxes connected by a deployable tether, was deployed later. Similar picosats were deployed on the previous Minotaur launch in January 2000.

Expedition 5 crewmembers, Commander Valery Korzun, Astronaut Peggy Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev, wrapped up a busy week of successful science and maintenance work, a week that saw completion of one major repair task on the environmental control system of the International Space Station. Additional Details: here....

Thought to be carrying out observations of space debris. Made a slight orbit adjustment of 1 km on 15 October to a 660 km x 675 km orbit, then released a new object, 2013-037J, with which it maintained stationkeeping within 2 km. The new object was perhaps a target subsatellite, possibly passive, for experiments with proximity operations.