USAF recommends 1955-1970 program for ballistic missiles, satellite reconnaissance systems, recoverable satellites, and manned interplanetary space exploration. Air Research and Development Command Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Committee report, based primarily on Western Development Division-Ramo -Wooldridge sources, contained a technological forecast (1955-1970) and program recommendations for ballistic missiles, satellite reconnaissance systems, recoverable satellites, manned interplanetary space exploration, and related facilities, funds and manpower requirements. It was estimated that program costs would reach $800 million by fiscal year 1961 and continue at a level of $500 million a year until 1970, then soar to $1.9 billion in 1971. (Early BMD-ARDC General Space Chronology, 11 Feb 59.)

Following Navy withdrawal from the Jupiter IRBM program, separate Army and Navy Ballistic Missile Committees were established under chairmanship of respective service secretaries. Navy withdrawal based on interest in solid-propellant Polaris as ship-based IRBM.

A contract was signed by the University of Manchester, Manchester, England, and the Air Force (AF 61(052)-168) for $21,509. Z. Kopal, principal investigator, was to provide topographical information on the lunar surface for production of accurate lunar maps. Additional Details: here....

Council of Chief Designers Decree 'On course of work on the piloted spaceship' was issued. Council of Chief designers approved the Vostok manned space program, in combination with Zenit spy satellite program Korolev was authorised to proceed with development of a spacecraft to achieve manned flights at the earliest possible date. However the design would be such that the same spacecraft could be used to fulfil the military's unmanned photo reconnaissance satellite requirement. The military resisted, but Korolev won. This was formalised in a decree of 25 May 1959.

The first launch of a Kumulus rocket is made to 15 km altitude carrying a radio-transmitter built by Professor Max Ehmert of the Max Planck Institute. The rocket had a mass of 30.3 kg, produced 508 kgf, and reached 700 m/s. However due to the batteries becoming too cold during launch preparations, the transmitter did not function and the rocket could not be tracked.

Immediately after cancellation of similar projects at Myasishchev and Tsybin bureaus, Chelomei's new bureau is assigned to build equivalent of US Dynasoar / Saint II. Winged manned spacecraft for interception, inspection, and destruction of US satellites up to 290 km altitude. Two man crew, 24 hour mission duration, large aft drag brakes.

Under arrangements of the AACB (Aeronautics and Astronautics Coordinating Board), NASA will utilize existing NASA tracking stations for initial Centaur development vehicles and switch to the Advent network (which is to be planned, funded, and constructed by DOD) when Centaur is operational, perhaps as early as the fourth of 10 development launchings of Centaur.

Small satellite was to have verified the readiness of the worldwide Mercury tracking network. An attempt was made to launch Mercury-Scout 1 (MS-1) into orbit with a communications package further to qualify the radar tracking of the Mercury global network prior to manned orbital flight. Shortly after lift-off, the launch vehicle developed erratic motions and attending high aerodynamic loads, and was destroyed by the Range Safety Officer after 43 seconds of flight. No further attempts were planned. The Mercury-Atlas 4 (MA-4) mission and the successful Mercury-Atlas 5 (MA-5), flown on November 29, 1961, disclosed that the network met all requirements.

R-12 test flight with live nuclear warhead, successful warhead detonation in Semipalitinsk at an altitude of 60 km. High altitude test designed to study electromagnetic pulse effects on electronics, especially ABM system radars. Communications were disrupted over a wide area for over an hour.

A Thor IRBM was used to launch a Mk 4 Reentry Vehicle containing a 186 kg W-50 nuclear warhead of either 200 or 400 kilotons yield. The detonation occurred at an altitude of 98 km, 69 km SSW of Johnston Atoll, and resulted in dramatic aurora-like effects visible as far away as Hawaii. More notably, the explosion had a massive effect on the ionosphere which disrupted radio communications over the entire central Pacific for three hours.

Mars probe intended to photograph Mars on a flyby trajectory. Launched from Sputnik 23 in a 157 x 238 km, 65 degree parking orbit. Sixty-one radio transmissions were held in which a large amount of data was collected. On March 21, 1963, when the spacecraft was at a distance of 106 million km communications ceased, possibly due to a malfunction in the spacecraft orientation system. Mars 1 closest approach to Mars occurred on June 19, 1963 at a distance of approximately 193,000 km, after which the spacecraft entered a heliocentric orbit. Announced mission: Prolonged exploration of outer space during flight to the planet Mars; establishment of inter-planetary radio communications; photgraphing of the planet Mars and subsquent radio-transmission to Earth of the photographs of the surface of Mars thus obtained.

ASAT interceptor control and propulsion test. Launched by Korolev R-7 because Chelomei's own UR-200 was not yet available. Purpose - elaboration of system providing for the extensive manoeuvring of space apparatuses. Flight was considered a great success. Micro-engine fired 350 times and main stabilizing engine fired 300 times. Orbit given is final orbit after manoeuvres.

Titan II development flight N-25 was launched from the Atlantic Missile Range. It carried the oxidizer surge chamber and fuel accumulator kit intended to reduce the amplitude of longitudinal vibration which had characterized earlier flights. NASA regarded 0.25g as the maximum level tolerable in manned space flight; this flight achieved a level of 0.22g, the first to fall within acceptable limits. Although the kit had been tested on only one flight, Gemini Project Office had sufficient confidence in it to decide, on November 6, to procure several more such kits for subsequent installation in Gemini launch vehicles. Two later Titan II development flights (N-29 on December 12, 1963, and N-31 on January 15, 1964) and the flight of Gemini-Titan 1 confirmed the validity of this decision. The required kits for the remaining Gemini launch vehicles were then procured.

Tsybin has learned through his Ministry of Defence contacts of Gagarin's letter to Brezhnev. He hears that they have criticized the space policy of the Minister of Defence and proposed that the VVS manage Soviet manned spaceflight. The letter also reportedly requests production of a new series of Voskhods to fill in the manned spaceflight gap created by delays in the Soyuz program. Korolev is remarkably unperturbed that he had not heard of the letter, and that Gagarin never said anything to him about it.

Mishin is drunk again at a critical mission phase. Afanasyev, Kerimov, and Tyulin all know about Mishin's drinking problem but do nothing. Meanwhile in orbit Soyuz-B's stellar navigation system has not functioned correctly (it hasn't worked on any Soyuz, Kamanin notes). The decision is made to use the ion orientation system. The TDU braking rocket fires at 10:03 on 2 November. But the spacecraft is not oriented correctly, and the landing will take place 2000 to 3000 km from the recovery area. The APO destruct system determines that the landing point will be 300 to 400 km east of Ulan-Ude, and automatically blows up the capsule during re-entry at an altitude of 60 to 70 km above Irkutsk. This was completely unnecessary, since the capsule would have landed on Soviet territory, or in Mongolian territory close to the border. The orientation problem is found to be due to incorrect functioning of the ion orientation system.

As a result of a Minuteman Task Force Study, Headquarters SAMSO reorganized and strengthened the Minuteman System Program Office (SPO) at Norton AFB. This action finally ended the management system that had been functioning since Ballistic Systems Division completed its move to Norton in August 1962. In addition, the systems engineering and technical direction (SE/TD) function for Minuteman, previously divided between TRW Systems Group and Aerospace Corporation, was given completely to TRW with Aerospace to be phased out of the Minuteman program.

In yet another iteration of shuttle design studies, $ 2.8 million contracts were given to Grumman/Boeing, Lockheed, McDonnell-Douglas/Martin Marrietta, and North American Rockewell. The development costs for the Phase B Prime contracts had still been over the Nixon administration's budget cap, and still further ways to reduce development cost had to be found. The studies were to run through 15 March 1972 and study lower cost booster concepts: a fully recoverable stage but with a new pressure-fed engine; a Saturn V first stage modified to serve as a flyback booster; and solid rocket motors. The staging velocity was to be under 6600 kph (e.g. lower than in earlier studies). The studies assumed a series burn, with the shuttle orbiter igniting at altitude.

The studies indicated :

• The Saturn S-IC flyback booster would use expendable engines, considered a drawback.
• The new-design pressure fed liquid propellant booster would cost $4.2 billion to develop, plus a recurring cost of $275/kg to orbit.
• Solid boosters would stage at 5800 kph. A solid booster shuttle would have a 2,221,000 gross lift-off weight equipped with 2 x 156 inch diameter solid rocket motors, loaded with 1.25 million kg of propellant and having a 130 second burn time. Lift-off thrust would be 1,332,000 kgf. Development cost would be $ 3.7 billion, and recurring shuttle cost to orbit would be $ 500/kg.

Testing of methods for comprehensive study of the oceans and the surface of the earth, and testing of automatic gathering of scientific information from experimental sea and land stations. Launched under the INTERCOSMOS programme by the Soviet Union toget her with the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the German Democratic Republic, the Hungarian People's Republic and the Socialist Republic of Romania.

European DBS and radio. Stationed at 19.29 deg E. TV distribution services to Western Europe and the Canary Islands under franchise from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Contracted and controlled by the private company formed in 1985 called Société Europíenne des Satellites (SES). This is the last in a series of 4 medium power satellites, and will act primarily as Astra 1B and 1C's backup. It will also carry four 12.5 Ghz BSS transponders that can be combined for HDTV. Spacecraft: HS-601 platform.3-axis unified ARC 22 N and one Marquardt 490 N bipropellant thrusters, Sun and Barnes Earth sensors and two 61 Nms 2-axis gimballed momentum bias wheels.1658 kg nitrogen tetroxide & MMH in four spheres. Spin-stabilised in transfer orbit. Twin solar wings of three 2.16 x 2.54 m panels carrying large area silicon cells on Kevlar substrate to satisfy 3.3 kW requirement. Eclipse protection provided by Nickel hydrogen batteries. Payload: 18 eclipse protected transponders, plus six spares with 63W TWTA 10.75-10.95 Ghz FSS (&12.5 Ghz BSS) down Ku-band European beams in 250 Mhz band adjacent (below) to Astra 1C, 26 Mhz bandwidth, eirp 50 dBW min, orthogonal polarisation, operating in the FSS range Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 19 deg E in 1995-1998; 28 deg E in 1998; 19 deg E in 1998-1999; 28 deg E in 2000.- As of 3 September 2001 located at 24.18 deg E drifting at 0.006 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 23.50E drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.

Solar wind research in L-1 halo orbit; part of International Solar Terrestrial Physics program. 221 day orbit. NASA's Wind probe made its 32nd lunar flyby on August 19, 2000, with a closest approach of 7600 km to the surface. This placed it on a 2 million km apogee orbit, adjusted on August 26 to an approximately 567000 x 1620000 km x 21.8 deg `Distant Prograde Orbit', reaching apogee on September 29 2000.

Chris Rice's "Hallelujahs" awakened Discovery's seven astronauts at 6:35 a.m. Central time today to begin their fourth day of science activities. The song was requested by pilot Steve Lindsey's wife, Diane. Today's primary activity will be deployment at 1:03 p.m. CST this afternoon of the Spartan solar physics satellite, which will fly free of Discovery for two days studying the outer layers of the sun's atmosphere. Additional Details: here....

Evasive Warhead ICBM Test. The missile was said to have entered a lower suborbital trajectory than was standard, and the warhead to have made evasive maneuvers both in space and during re-entry. This was said to give the system an 87% chance of penetrating planned American ballistic missile defence systems.