After study and discussion by STG and Marshal! Space Flight Center officials, STG concluded that the current 154-inch diameter of the second stage (S-IV) adapter for the Apollo spacecraft would be satisfactory for the Apollo missions on Saturn flights SA-7, SA-8, SA-9, and SA-10.

Martin Company personnel briefed NASA officials in Washington, D.C., on the Titan II weapon system. Albert C. Hall of Martin had contacted NASA's Associate Administrator, Robert C. Seamans, Jr., on April 7 to propose the Titan II as a launch vehicle for a lunar landing program. Although skeptical, Seamans nevertheless arranged for a more formal presentation. Abe Silverstein, NASA Director, Office of Space Flight Programs, was sufficiently impressed by the Martin briefing to ask Director Robert R. Gilruth and Space Task Group to study possible Titan II uses. Silverstein shortly informed Seamans of the possibility of using the Titan II to launch a scaled-up Mercury spacecraft.

The first attempt to launch an Atlas/Centaur from the Atlantic Missile Range was unsuccessful when the Centaur stage blew up at T+55 seconds due to a second stage structural failure. Despite this failure, the launch marked the first U.S. use of a space vehicle fueled by a liquid hydrogen engine. First Centaur flight (unsuccessful).

Langley Research Center completed tests on a model of the Gemini launch vehicle to determine the static and dynamic loads imposed on the vehicle and the launch vehicle erector by ground winds. Simulated wind velocities of 5 to 52 miles per hour did not produce loads great enough to be of concern. Tests had begun on April 15.

A meeting between the cosmonauts and OKB-1 becomes heated on the question of the Voskhod design. Korolev and his specialists attempt to minimise the design approach that made manual re-entry for Voskhod-2 so difficult. In fact the state commission concluded that it was impossible to conduct a manual re-entry with the crew in their seats. Korolev agreed that later Voskhods will be equipped with instruments allowing manual re-entry with the astronauts seated, and apologised for the oversight.

Mishin, Keldysh, Pashkov, Smirnov, and Serbin meet. Some of them are still expecting a big failure in the Apollo programme that will set the Americans back and still make it possible for Russia to be first on the moon. These are black days in the Soviet programme - it is clear to Kamanin that the Americans will successfully land on the moon in July, and the Russians are 2 to 3 years behind.

Frolov reports to Kamanin on a meeting of the general designers. Mishin has planned the Soyuz 11 launch for June, to be followed by Soyuz 12 in July. The reworked docking mechanism will be ready for installation on Soyuz 11 by 18 May. Mishin recommends a full automated docking for the next mission.

Stationed at 103 deg W. Ku band communications satellite. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 103 deg W in 1985-1996; 105 deg W in 1997-1999 As of 5 September 2001 located at 105.33 deg W drifting at 0.011 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 105.07W drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

Stationed at 5 deg W; business communications. Communications satellite. Registration France 1984-2.B (Telecom 1A) 1985-2.B (Telecom 1B). 1988-1-C (Telecom 1C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 5 deg W in 1985-1988 As of 3 September 2001 located at 4.82 deg E drifting at 0.111 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 86.72E drifting at 0.424E degrees per day.

Microgravity experiments. Recovered, although it reached only a fraction of the planned altitude. The MAXUS sounding rocket program began in 1989 and the first launch took place in 1991.The program was a joint venture between the Swedish Space Corporation and the German space company EADS-ST. The Maxus program was financed by ESA. The scientific objective was to perform experiments during 12-13 minutes of microgravity (10-4 g) using a single stage sounding rocket motor. The motor, a Castor 4B, had a maximum acceleration of 13 g, a top speed of 3500 m/sec and reached an apogee of around 750 km depending on the payload mass.

The data for the 1st two EVA-s are: 12 and 17.05.1995. After these 2 EVA-s there will be made another 2 of which data and other details still have to be settled. There is a possibility of 2 extra, so called 'contingency' EVA-s. The EVA on 12.05 will begin at 0500 UTC (opening of the hatch), last abt 5 hours and the main task will be the transfer of a solar panel from Kristall to Kvant-1. Possibly the cosmonauts will also retrieve materials which have been exposed to open space. During radio communications in the last week could be heard how the cosmonauts checked systems, spacesuits, communication channels, etc. The last 2 days these checks were focused on the communication channels. The checks were very realistic and gave a good insight in the communications procedures and systems. During EVA-s the 143.625 shifts to 143.617 mc, so lower than the normal Doppler shift and interference by an air traffic channel are standard and during those checks the same happened. Preparations for the 1st EVA will begin in the night from 11 to 12.05.1995, the opening of the hatch, in fact the beginning of the EVA, will be at abt. 0500 UTC. The Russians Dezhurov and Strekalov will do the EVA, Thagard will be on duty in the Mir- complex.

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

DSP-1 Block 14 ballistic missile launch detection satellite. Delivered by the two-stage IUS-22 solid rocket into geostationary orbit. Fullfilled mission of DSP 19 launched in 1999 into the wrong orbit when its IUS stage failed. Still in service as of March 2007. As of 2005 Apr 2 located at 8.05E drifting at 0.166E degrees per day.

Direct Radio Broadcasting satellite. Second launch attempt following pad abort on January 8. Launch delayed from May 7. XM-1 "Roll" was launched from Sea Launch's Odyssey Launch Platform in the Pacific, on the equator at 154.0 W. Roll joined Rock, launched on March 18, to complete the XM Satellite Radio space segment. The XM-1 satellite was a Boeing Satellite Systems (El Segundo) BSS 702 with a launch mass of 4667 kg and a dry mass of about 2500 kg. It carried an R-4D liquid apogee engine and a XIPS ion station-keeping engine. The satellite's Alcatel communications payload featured an X-band receive antenna which passed digital radio broadcasts on to the two 5-meter S-band transmit antennas. It was to provide one hundred channels of digital music and entertainment to motorists in North America after parking over 85 deg-W. The XM satellites, like the three rival Sirius Radio satellites in inclined elliptical synchronous orbits, were to provide radio broadcasting to North America. The first two stages of the Zenit launch vehicle placed the Block DM-SL upper stage and payload in a 191 km apogee suborbital trajectory at 2219 GMT; the Block-DM-SL then ignited for its first burn, entering a 180 x 990 km x 1.3 deg parking orbit at 2223 GMT. The second burn at 2258 GMT accelerated the stack to a 935 x 35797 km x 1.3 deg geostationary transfer orbit. The XM-1 Roll satellite separated at 2315 GMT. As of 5 September 2001 located at 85.12 deg W drifting at 0.009 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 115.09W drifting at 0.002W degrees per day.

Experimental Rural Communications. Launch delayed from original target of late 2001, then October 2002, then February 2003. The satellite carried four C-band transponders, two Ku-band transponders and a Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) payload operating in S-band and C-band for forward link and return link respectively. GSAT-2 also carried four piggyback experimental payloads: Total Radiation Dose Monitor (TRDM), Surface Charge Monitor (SCM), Solar X-ray Spectrometer (SOXS) and Coherent Radio Beacon Experiment (CRABEX). As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 47.97E drifting at 0.005E degrees per day.

Hint: watch tonight's 'The Colbert Report' on Comedy Central, at 11:30pm EDT! Before breakfast, CDR Volkov, FE-1 Kononenko and FE-2 Reisman began their workday with the periodic session of the Russian biomedical routine assessments PZEh-MO-7/Calf Volume Measurement (second for CDR and FE-1, third for FE-2. Additional Details: here....