Council of Soviet Ministers (SM) Decree 957-409 'On transfer of intercontinental cruise missile work to the Ministry of Aviation Industry' was issued. Korolev had to place the highest priority on development of the R-7 ICBM. Therefore the final government decree authorised the Lavochkin and Myasishchev aircraft design bureaux to proceed in parallel with full-scale development of trisonic intercontinental cruise missiles. Both missiles would use ramjet engines by Bondaryuk, astronavigation systems by R Chachikyan, inertial navigation systems by G Tolstoysov, and aerodynamics developed by TsAGI (Central Hydrodynamics Institute). Lavochkin's Burya would use rocket booster engines built by Glushko, while Myasishchev's Buran would use Isayev engines. Both missiles were to deliver a nuclear warhead over an 8,500 km range. But the warhead design specified for the Lavochkin missile had a total mass of 2,100 kg, while that for the Myasishchev missile weighed 3,500 kg.

The Generator-S radiological warhead for the R-5 was developed in the early 1950's. In order to handle the warhead OKBT Kirov Factory built the shielded manipulator vehicle Objekt 805, which had a total mass of 72 tonnes. Following the demonstration the system was accepted by the military in 1955.

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and the Air Force signed a Memorandum of Understanding concerning the principles in the development and testing of the Air Force's Hypersonic Boost Glide Vehicle (Dyna Soar I). The following principles would apply to the project: (1) The project would be conducted as a joint Air Force-NACA project. (2) Overall technical control of the project would rest with the Air Force, acting with the advice and assistance of NACA. (3) Financing of the design, construction, and Air Force test of the vehicles would be borne by the Air Force. (4) Management of the project would be conducted by an Air Force project office within the Directorate of Systems Management, Headquarters, Air Research and Development Command. NACA would provide liaison representation in the project office and provide the chairman of the technical team responsible for data transmission and research instrumentation. (5) Design and construction of the system would be conducted through a negotiated prime contractor. (6) Flight tests of the vehicle and related equipment would be accomplished by NACA, the USAF, and the prime contractor in a combined test program, under the overall control of a joint NACA-USAF committee chaired by the Air Force.

The ballistic missile division briefing on Man-In-SpaceSoonest was presented at Air Research and Development Command headquarters. Present were General C. E. LeMay and "members of the Air Staff, and to Air Force Undersecretary M. A. Maclntyre and Assistant Secretary R. E. Horner. Favorable reception was accorded the briefings and the command was assured that adequate funding, "somewhere between seventy-five and one hundred million dollars" would be allocated the program for fiscal year 1959. The briefing to Maclntyre and Horner evoked a specific suggestion that an ICBM be used as a booster in lieu of developing a second stage for the Thor. The division was allowed two weeks to prepare a plan using an Atlas booster and bring it to Washington for secretarial review. (Memo, Col H. L. Evans, Asst Dep Cmdr, Space Sys, to Col C. H. Terhune, 23 May 58, subj: Trip Report.)

At last realizing the importance of the ground-to-aircraft communications requirements for control of the SAC bomber force, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) initiated Project Steer. The defense communication satellite effort now had three distinct elements - Steer; Tackle, for an advanced polar communication satellite; and Decree for a 24-hour synchronous communication satellite to be put in orbit by the as yet undeveloped Atlas-Centaur. Priority was assigned to Project Steer, and project supervision was given to AFBMD. However, ARPA retained control and did not delegate authority and responsibility for systems integration.

Atlas 56D carried a 3,000-pound payload 7,859 nautical miles (9,040 statute miles) from Cape Canaveral to the target area in the Indian Ocean. This was the longest U.S. missile flight to date. Payload was an operational weight nose cone plus instrumentation. Missile attained an apogee of about 1,000 miles.

Kamanin, Yazdovskiy, Bushuyev, and Feoktistov fly to Sochi. Korolev arrives on the next flight, and discussions begin on plans for the second Soviet manned spaceflight. Korolev wants a one-day/16-orbit flight, but Kamanin thinks this is too daring and wants a 3 to 4 orbit flight. Korolev rejects this, saying recovery on orbits 2 to 7 is not possible since the solar orientation sensor would not function (retrofire would have to take place in the earth's shadow). But Kamanin believes one day is too big a leap since the effects of sustained zero-G are not known. He finally agrees to a one-day flight, but with the proviso that a manually-oriented retrofire can be an option on orbits 2 to 7 if the cosmonaut is feeling unwell. Korolev reports that the new Sever spacecraft should be ready for flight by the third quarter of 1962. OKB-1 is working hard on the finding solutions to the problems of manoeuvring, rendezvous, and docking in orbit. Kamanin tells Korolev that it would be difficult to recruit and train three-man crews in time to support such an aggressive schedule.

Kamanin discusses with VVS management the huge task of organizing recovery forces that can find and pick up a manned spacecraft returning from the moon anywhere on the earth. Receivers for the spacecraft's homing beacons have to be installed on a fleet of ocean-going vessels and recovery aircraft. This requirement has been known for six years, but nothing has been done yet.

The drop of the Soyuz 1 mock-up at Fedosiya was cancelled due to the great likelihood of loss of the spacecraft and the low likelihood of obtaining any new data as a result. The LII assessment of the parachute system has been completed:

• The likely cause of non-deployment of the primary parachute on Soyuz 1 was insufficient drag force created by the drogue chute to pull it out of the container (the drogue needs to produce 3 tonnes of force, but tests show only 1.1 to 1.8 tonnes of force are being produced at an ambient pressure of 0.67 atmospheres)
• The reliable operation of the reserve parachute and the drogue parachute at the same time was never demonstrated in trials. The chance of them getting tangled was actually very likely.

• Remove the reserve parachute and have a system of two main parachutes, with landing possible even if one of the main chutes does not deploy
• Develop through extensive actual testing reliable inflation of the drogue chute
• Add controls to allow manual parachute deployment by the crew, with appropriate cockpit instruments
• Increase the jettison time of the heat shield from 60.7 seconds to 100 seconds after parachute deployment to allow the full interval for operation of the automatic landing system.

MSC notified NASA Hq. that - with the changes defined for the Block II spacecraft following the January 27 Apollo 204 fire and with CSM delivery schedules now reestablished - it was necessary to complete a contract for three additional CSMs requested in 1966. North American Aviation had responded September 15, 1966, to MSC's February 28 request for a proposal, but action on a contract had been suspended because of the AS-204 accident. NASA Hq. on June 27, 1967, authorized MSC to proceed.

Volynov conducts tests in a pressurised suit to see if it is possible to go from the SA capsule to the BO living module in a two-man crew transfer scenario. He shows it is not possible - exit from the SA to the BO is very unsafe, there is a good chance of getting stuck in the hatch. This shows it would be difficult or impossible for the spacecraft commander in the SA to go to the assistance of a single cosmonaut attempting to transfer from one Soyuz to another. Feoktistov proposes another alternative - launch of 3 cosmonauts in one Soyuz, one cosmonaut in another. After docking, a single cosmonaut would transfer from one Soyuz to another, but at least a second cosmonaut would be in the BO to assist him in case of difficulties. Two cosmonauts would return in each Soyuz capsule, meeting the reserve parachute mass limitations. This solution also takes care of a problem with the 1+2 scenario, in that it implied a crew consisting of Khrunov and Yeliseyev, but neither has been trained as a spacecraft commander. A crew could consist of Volynov and one of these, but then the problem is that no spacesuit has been fabricated for Volynov, and it requires two months to make one.

Soyuz 9 is planned to launch at 24:00. A new feature is that the crews' sleeping hours have been modified to put them in synch with the shifts at ground control over the long mission. The cosmonauts spent all day at Area 17, preparing the flight plan and logs. It is 28 degrees in the shade, and Kamanin plays tennis with the crews in the late afternoon. In the evening the American film 'One Million Years BC' is shown. Kamanin found the struggle between the savages interesting.

The third pair of Defense Satellite Communications System II satellites was launched; the launch failed due to a malfunction in the Transtage of the Titan IIIC launch vehicle. Unusable orbit. Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).

The third pair of Defense Satellite Communications System II satellites was launched; the launch failed due to a malfunction in the Transtage of the Titan IIIC launch vehicle. Unusable orbit. Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).

The Pioneer Venus Orbiter was inserted into an elliptical orbit around Venus on December 4, 1978. After entering orbit around Venus in 1978, the spacecraft returned global maps of the planet's clouds, atmosphere and ionosphere, measurements of the atmosphere-solar wind interaction, and radar maps of 93 percent of the planet's surface. Additionally, the vehicle made use of several opportunities to make systematic UV observations of several comets. From Venus orbit insertion to July 1980, periapsis was held between 142 and 253 km (at 17 degrees north latitude) to facilitate radar and ionospheric measurements. The spacecraft was in a 24 hour orbit with an apoapsis of 66,900 km. Thereafter, the periapsis was allowed to rise (to 2290 km at maximum) and then fall, to conserve fuel. In 1991 the Radar Mapper was reactivated to investigate previously inaccessible southern portions of the planet. In May 1992 Pioneer Venus began the final phase of its mission, in which the periapsis was held between 150 and 250 km until the fuel ran out and atmospheric entry destroyed the spacecraft. With a planned primary mission duration of only eight months, the spacecraft remained in operation until October 8, 1992 when it finally burned up in Venus' atmosphere after running out of propellant.

Stretched Rohini Satellite Series; carried gamma-ray detector, ionosphere monitor. SROSS-C satellite carries two scientific payloads: 1) Retarding Potential Analyser (RPA), consisting of two planar detectors to measure plasma parameters and investigate energetics of the equatorial ionosphere. (2) Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) detectors, consist ing of two scintillation detectors to study celestial gamma ray bursts in the energy range of 20 keV to 3000 keV. Launch vehicle: Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle.

Stationed at 142.5 deg E as 'Rimsat-2' - leased to Rimsat Corporation, using an orbital slot allocated to Tonga. Communications satellite intended for use under commercial conditions. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 142 deg E in 1994-1997; 122 deg E in 1997-1999; 142 deg E in 1999. As of 5 September 2001 located at 142.86 deg E drifting at 0.016 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 173.22W drifting at 0.132W degrees per day.

Telesat Canada's Nimiq television broadcasting satellite was placed into a 7050 km x 35790 km x 15.9 degree transfer orbit. The Nimiq was to use its liquid apogee engine (Royal Ordnance Leros 1) to reach geosynchronous orbit. Telesat Canada also operated the Anik Canadian domestic communications satellites, the first of which was launched in 1972. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 91 deg W in 1999. As of 4 September 2001 located at 91.11 deg W drifting at 0.002 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 91.18W drifting at 0.012W degrees per day.

ISS Servicing flight. Launch delayed from april 12. This Progress resupply mission to the ISS was launched by the first Soyuz-FG rocket - a modified Soyuz-U with 5 percent improved perfomance using new fuel utilisation systems. Progress M1-6 after launch was also designated as ISS supply mission 4P. It carried 2.5 tonnes of food, fuel, water, life-support material, and equipment, including spare computer equipment for the ISS Destiny module. Nearly one tonne of the fuel was for raising the altitude of the ISS. Progress M1-6 docked with Zvezda's aft (-Y) port at 0024 GMT on May 23. It undocked at 0601 GMT on August 22 and deorbited at around 0900 GMT the same day.

Objectives: First captive carry flight with mated White Knight and SpaceShipOne. Vibration and aerodynamic interface assessment. Mated handling qualities evaluation. Envelope expansion to 130 knots / Mach 0.5 above 45,000 feet. Stalls and 2/3-rudder sideslips. SpaceShipOne systems inactive, controls locked and cabin unmanned. Launch system was qualified and functional for this flight. Additional Details: here....

Solar sail test vehicle. Released in solar orbit 0.72 AU x 1.07 AU x 2.0 deg. Deployed sail by 11 June, and acceleration due to the pressure of the light from the sun was as expected. Flyby of Venus at 80,000 km distance at 07:39 GMT on 8 December 2010 returned images of sail with crescent Vensu in the background.

Classified mission of the winged, recoverable X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. Publicly stated to be carrying an AFRL ion engine test and a NASA materials exposure experiment. After releasing the X-37B the Centaur AV-054 rocket stage reignited to reach a 355 km x 700 km x 55-57 deg orbit and at around 17:00 GMT released a set of 9 cubesats. Centaur then made a third burn to deorbit itself over the Indian Ocean.

Planetary Society's 3U cubesat with a solar sail deployment experiment. The cubesat went into safe mode a few days after launch but rebooted on May 30. Its solar panels were deployed on June 3 and the solar sail was unfurled on June 7 at 19:47 GMT. The satellite reentered on June 14.