The first full-scale test of an ablation reentry vehicle (RVX-2) was conducted with the launch and successful flight of Atlas 8C. Following the 4,385 NM flight into the South Atlantic, the reentry vehicle was recovered. A full-scale USAF Atlas ICBM nose cone recovered for the first time after flight down the AMR.

The Mercury capsule, Liberty Bell 7, manned by Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom, boosted by a Redstone rocket, reached a peak altitude of 190.3 km and a speed of 8,335 km per hour. After a flight of 15 minutes and 37 seconds, the landing was made 487 km downrange from the launch site. The hatch blew while still in water, and the capsule sank; Grissom saved, though his suit was filling up with water through open oxygen inlet lines.

This was the second and final manned suborbital Mercury Redstone flight, and the first flight with trapezoidal window. Further suborbital flights (each astronaut was to make one as a training exercise) were cancelled. An attempt to recover the capsule in very deep water in 1994 not successful. It was finally raised in the summer of 1999.

NASA announced plans for an advanced Saturn launch complex to be built on 80,000 acres northwest of Cape Canaveral. The new facility, Launch Complex 39, would include a building large enough for the vertical assembly of a complete Saturn launch vehicle and Apollo spacecraft.

The Egyptian government exhibits mock-ups of missiles they are developing with assistance from German engineers. The El Qahir (conqueror) is 11 m long and was said to have a range of 600 km. The El Zafir (Victor) is 5.5 km long and had a range of 300 km. Later it is announced that a two-stage Al Ared (Pioneer) rocket is being developed that will have a range of 1000 km. A modification of this will be capable of launching satellites. Engineers involved in development of the rockets are said to be Wolfgang Pilz, Hans Goercke, and Hans Kleinwaechter. Eugen Saenger at the Stuttgart Propulsion Institute is also implicated. Saenger, who is working with his wife on steam-rocket boosted ramjet aircraft, denies this.

Commenting on Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater's views on the space program, Warren Burkett, science writer for the Houston Chronicle, observed that a great deal of research being conducted as part of NASA's Apollo program could be of direct value to the military services. Burkett contended that an orbital laboratory using Apollo-developed components could be used for such military applications as patrol and orbital interception. He suggested that, with Apollo, NASA was generating an inventory of 'off-the-shelf' space hardware suitable for military use if needed.

Several lunar surface vehicles received national attention:

• NASA announced that it had dropped plans for developing a small rover to be carried to the moon aboard soft-landing Surveyor spacecraft. This action, the space agency said, stemmed from a desire to concentrate on the development of the spacecraft per se and on its scientific instrumentation.

• Apollo Lunar Flying Vehicle (LFV) - . Nation: USA. Program: Apollo. Spacecraft: LFV Bell.

  Bell Aerosystems Company announced that it had designed a rocket-propelled Lunar Flying Vehicle (LFV) to aid Apollo astronauts in their exploration of the moon. This work was the result of a year-long study that the company had conducted for MSFC. The LFV, nicknamed "Hopper," would be able to travel about 80 km (50 mi) without stopping. Bell announced also that it had received additional funds from NASA (almost a half million dollars) to continue work on another lunar vehicle, the so-called Manned Flying System. This latter craft, also primarily a tool for exploration, would be able to transport an astronaut and about 136 kg (300 lbs) of equipment (or two astronauts) for distances up to 24 km (15 mi) from the original landing site.

• R-9A ICBM accepted into military service. - . Nation: Russia. Decree 'On adoption of the R-9A in shaft and surface variants into armaments' was issued..

• Apollo Manned Flying System - . Nation: USA. Program: Apollo. Spacecraft Bus: LFV Bell. Spacecraft: MFS.

  Bell Aerosystems Company announced that it had received additional funds from NASA (almost a half million dollars) to continue work on another lunar vehicle, the so-called Manned Flying System. This latter craft, also primarily a tool for exploration, would be able to transport an astronaut and about 136 kg (300 lbs) of equipment (or two astronauts) for distances up to 24 km (15 mi) from the original landing site.

The retrofire maneuver was initiated at 70 hours 10 minutes after liftoff, during the 43rd revolution. The spacecraft landed at 21:06 GMT within sight of the prime recovery ship, the aircraft carrier Guadalcanal, some 5 km from the planned landing point on July 21.

Decree 715-240 'On the Creation of Space Systems for Naval Reconnaissance Comprising the US sat and the R-36-based booster -further work on the US naval reconnaissance satellite, approval of work on the Yantar-2K, and course of work on 7K-VI Zvezda'.

An entire family of Yantar spacecraft was proposed by Kozlov's design bureau during the initial development; information on two film return models has been declassified. Yantar was initially derived from the Soyuz spacecraft, including systems developed for the Soyuz VI military model. During design and development this changed until it had very little in common with Soyuz.

Following numerous problems in the first flight tests of the Soyuz 7K-OK, Kozlov ordered a complete redesign of the 7K-VI manned military spacecraft. The new spacecraft, with a crew of two, would have a total mass of 6.6 tonnes and could operate for a month in orbit. The new design switched the positions of the Soyuz descent module and the orbital modules and was 300 kg too heavy for the standard 11A511 launch vehicle. Therefore Kozlov designed a new variant of the Soyuz launch vehicle, the 11A511M. The project was approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, with first flight to be in 1968 and operations to begin in 1969. The booster design, with unknown changes to the basic Soyuz, did not go into full production.

At the same time the reconstruction schedule for the destroyed N1 launch complex was being laid out, Apollo 11 landed on the moon and the Americans won the moon race. Mishin's engineers watched the live television at TsNIIMASH. Afterwards Tyulin declared, "this is all Chertok's fault. In 1945 he should have thought of stealing Von Braun from the Americans - but he never considered that solution". "True", Chertok replied, "my adventure with Vasiliy Kharchev didn't turn out too well".

Chertok recalled: "After the happy conclusion of the lunar expedition, Tyulin proposed stopping by the director s office. There, over a glass of cognac, he said: "This is all Chertok s fault. In 1945 he came up with a scheme to snatch von Braun from the Americans and didn't manage to pull it off". Chertok replied bitterly: "And it s a very good thing that Vasya Kharchev and I failed in that undertaking. Von Braun would have sat for some time in our country uselessly on an island, and then he would have been sent to the GDR, where as a former Nazi he wouldn't have been cleared to work anywhere. And so with the help of the Americans, he fulfilled not only his own dream, but also that of all mankind".

Failed; did not enter Martian orbit as planned; intended to be a Mars orbiter mission. Mars 4 reached Mars on 10 February 1974. Due to use of helium in preflight tests of the computer chips, which resulted in degradation of the chips during the voyage to Mars, the retro-rockets never fired to slow the craft into Mars orbit. Mars 4 flew by the planet at a range of 2,200 km. It returned one swath of pictures and some radio occultation data. Final heliocentric orbit 1.02 x 1.63 AU, 2.2 degree inclination, 556 day period.

Following a rest period of nearly 10 hours, the Soyuz crewmen advised the ground that they were awake and that all systems were normal. The deorbit burn came exactly on time (5:09 in Houston), and the Soyuz crew landed safely in Kazakhstan. For the remaining three and a half days, Stafford, Slayton, and Brand would concentrate on their experiments, but in many respects the saga of Apollo and Soyuz had come to an end.

Stationed at 93.5 deg E; also performed communications tasks. Operational multipurpose satellite for telecommunications, meteorological imaging and data relay, radio and television programme distribution and direct television broadcasting for community reception. Geosynchronous orbit longitude 93.5 +/- 0.1 deg east. Launch vehicle Ariane 3 launch vehicle of Arianespace, 24th flight of Ariane and 9th flight of the Ariane 3 version. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 93 deg E in 1988-1989 As of 4 September 2001 located at 58.51 deg E drifting at 0.073 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 80.89E drifting at 0.154W degrees per day.

European communications; 13 deg E. ECS-5/Eutelsat I F5 is a regional geostationary telecommunications satellite for European countries. It is operated by the EUTELSAT organization. Frequency plan 136-138 MHz (S-E), 148-149.9 MHz (E-S), 10.7-11.7 GHz (S-E), 14.0-14.5 GHz (E-S). Launch time 2334:00 UT. ESA designator ESA/88/03. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 10 deg E in 1989-1991; 21 deg E in 1991-1998; 12 deg W in 1998-1999 As of 4 September 2001 located at 48.15 deg E drifting at 7.596 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 102.26W drifting at 7.597W degrees per day.

American test pilot astronaut 1959-1974. First American in space. Grounded on medical grounds during Gemini, but reinstated, becoming fifth person to walk on the moon. Millionaire entrepreneur on the side. 2 spaceflights, 9.0 days in space. Flew suborbital on Mercury MR-3 and to the moon on Apollo 14 (1971). Died of leukemia, two years after diagnosis.

With its days flying alone in orbit coming to an end, the Zvezda service module nears completion of systems checkouts in preparation for docking to the International Space Station. The linkup remains scheduled for 8:53 p.m. Eastern Time next Tuesday, July 25, as the two spacecraft fly high above the Russian Federation within the coverage area of ground communication stations. Additional Details: here....

Arrived at the ISS on 27 July. Grappled by the station's Canadarm and berthed to the ISS Harmony module at 14:34 GMT. Unberthed by the SSRMS arm of the ISS at about 12:02 GMT on 12 September and released into space at 1550 GMT. After one of HTV-3's onboard computers failed, a planned small separation burn was replaced by a much larger abort burn which safely and rapidly separated HTV-3 from the vicinity of the ISS. HTV-3 was successfully deorbited over the Pacific on 14 September.