It is decided to move testing of production V-2s and training of combat launch crews from the Baltic Sea to the middle of Poland, at Heidelager, near Blizna. German units here operationally test fired over 100 V-2's, launching 10 on one day, only a small number of which were fully successful.

Hermes B-1 impacts a graveyard 18.5 km south of Juarez, Mexico on its first test flight. This and the out-of-range V-2 impact on 15 May resulted in new safety measures at WSPG. 'We were the first German unit to not only infiltrate the United States, but to attack Mexico from US soil'. This vehicle was deeply classified at the time. Hermes experiments were conducted with modified V-2 rockets to test the configuration of a ramjet propulsion system. Four Hermes B-1 rockets were flown from Complex 33, none of which were noted in the contemporary records.

The first operational Atlas/Centaur (AC-10) carried the NASA Surveyor I spacecraft to the moon in a direct ascent lunar transfer trajectory. This was the first in a series of seven Surveyors designed to develop soft-landing technology and to provide basic scientific and engineering data in support of Project Apollo. On 2 June, Surveyor I became the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on the moon and transmit television pictures Surveyor 1 soft landed on the moon in the Ocean of Storms and began transmitting the first of more than 11,150 clear, detailed television pictures to Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Space Facility, Goldstone, Calif. The landing sequence began 3,200 kilometers above the moon with the spacecraft traveling at a speed of 9,700 kilometers per hour. The spacecraft was successfully slowed to 5.6 kilometers per hour by the time it reached 4-meter altitude and then free-fell to the surface at 13 kilometers per hour. The landing was so precise that the three footpads touched the surface within 19 milliseconds of each other, and it confirmed that the lunar surface could support the LM. It was the first U.S. attempt to soft land on the moon.

Mishin still wants to eventually conduct a 2+2 mission, but now wants the flight in August to be a 0+1 test flight. In this he is supported by Keldysh and Ustinov. He wants Feoktistov to be the pilot. Kamanin is adamantly opposed and offers him Beregovoi, Volynov, or Shatalov.

The backup crews were to train in the Soyuz 9 spacecraft from 10:00, followed by the prime crew at 12:00, but Mishin didn't allow the backups to start until 11:00. Inspectors have found 15 discrepancies in the spacecraft, 3 to 4 of them serious (including incorrect mounting of the crew head rests, unusable photographic equipment).

The first spacecraft to orbit another planet. The Mariner Mars 71 mission was planned to consist of two spacecraft on complementary missions. Mariner 8 was to map 70 % of the Martian surface and Mariner 9 was to study temporal changes in the Martian atmosphere and on the Martian surface. The launch failure of Mariner 8 forced Mariner 9 to combine the mission objectives of both. For the survey portion of the mission, the planetary surface was to be mapped with the same resolution as planned for the original mission, although the resolution of pictures of the polar regions would be decreased due to the increased slant range. The variable features experiments were changed from studies of six given areas every 5 days to studies of smaller regions every 17 days. Mariner 9 was launched on a direct trajectory to Mars. Separation from the booster occurred at 22:36 GMT. The four solar panels were deployed at 22:40 GMT. The sensors locked onto the Sun at 23:16, shortly after the spacecraft left the Earth's shadow and Canopus acquisition was achieved at 02:26 GMT 31 May. A planned midcourse maneuver was executed on 5 June. Mariner 9 arrived at Mars on 14 November 1971 after a 167 day flight. A 15 minute 23 second rocket burn put the spacecraft into Mars orbit. The insertion orbit had a periapsis of 1398 km and a period of 12 hr, 34 min. Two days later a 6 second rocket burn changed the orbital period to just under 12 hours with a periapsis of 1387 km. A correction trim maneuver was made on 30 December on the 94th orbit which raised the periapsis to 1650 km and changed the orbital period to 11:59:28 so that synchronous data transmissions could be made to the Goldstone 64-m DSN antenna.

Imaging of the surface of Mars by Mariner 9 was delayed by a dust storm which started on 22 September 1971 in the Noachis region. The storm quickly grew into one of the largest global storms ever observed on Mars. By the time the spacecraft arrived at Mars no surface details could be seen except the summits of Olympus Mons and the three Tharsis volcanoes. The storm abated through November and December and normal mapping operations began. The spacecraft gathered data on the atmospheric composition, density, pressure, and temperature and also the surface composition, temperature, gravity, and topography of Mars. A total of 54 billion bits of scientific data were returned, including 7329 images covering the entire planet. After depleting its supply of attitude control gas, the spacecraft was turned off on 27 October 1972. Mariner 9 was left in an orbit which should not decay for at least 50 years, after which the spacecraft will enter the Martian atmosphere.

The Mariner 9 mission resulted in a global mapping of the surface of Mars, including the first detailed views of the martian volcanoes, Valles Marineris, the polar caps, and the satellites Phobos and Deimos. It also provided information on global dust storms, the gravity field as well as evidence for surface aeolian activity.

An Air Force Titan IIIC boosted NASA's Applications Technology Satellite (ATS-F) into orbit from Cape Canaveral. Built by Application Technology Satellite; experimental communications satellite. The purpose of the ATS-6 flight experiment was to demonstrate north-south stationkeeping of a geosynchronous satellite using two cesium ion engine systems. Thruster development tests included a life test of 2614 hours and 471 cycles. Thruster input power was 0.15 kW, which resulted in a thrust of 4.5 mN at a specific impulse of 2500 s. One of the ion engines operated for about one hour and the other for 92 hours. Both of the engines failed to provide thrust on restart due to discharge chamber cesium flooding. The feed system flooding problem caused overloading of the discharge and high voltage power supplies. This failure mechanism was verified through a series of ground tests. However engine operation demonstrated an absence of EMI related to spacecraft systems, verified predictions of spacecraft potential with engines operating, and demonstrated compatibility with the spacecraft's star tracker. It was found that the ion engines or just the neutralizer could discharge large negative spacecraft potentials at all times. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Americas at 94 deg W in 1974-1975; over the Indian Ocean 35 deg E in 1975-1976; over the Americas at 140 deg W in 1976-1979. As of 2 September 2001 located at 172.56 deg W drifting at 6.144 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 29.12W drifting at 6.125E degrees per day.

Zenit-2M (area survey photo reconnaissance) satellite used for earth resources studies as part of 'Gektor-Priroda' project. Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation.

Also known as Chinastar 1; comsat to serve China, India, Korea and Southeast Asia with 18 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders. Operated by the China Orient Telecommunications Satellite Company, part of the Chinese telecommunications ministry. Zhongwei 1 and the CZ-3B's final liquid hydrogen upper stage were placed in an initial supersynchronous 216 x 85,035 km x 24.4 deg transfer orbit. Geostationary at 87.6 degrees E. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 87 deg E in 1998-1999 As of 6 September 2001 located at 87.49 deg E drifting at 0.013 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 87.64E drifting at 0.010W degrees per day.

International Space Station engineers are continuing to troubleshoot problems with the Canadarm2 robotic arm on the complex after an unsuccessful attempt earlier today to solve a communications glitch with one of the crane's joints through a software modification. Additional Details: here....

Small 37 kg imaging satellites for Satellogic of Argentina; ÑUSAT-1 and -2 (not to be confused with the 1985 Nusat satellite from Weber State Univ.); also called Fresco and Batata (cheese and sweet potato, a popular Argentine dessert pairing). 1024LT SSO.