Based on the 23 September decision, all Defense Department satellite and space vehicle programs were to be reassigned to the military services of primary interest. The Discoverer, MIDAS, and SAMOS programs were approved for transfer back to AFBMD from ARPA. All three programs were originally part of the WS 117L program that AFBMD had managed from inception in 1956 until the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) had assumed responsibility on 30 June 1958.

NASA announced that the Chrysler Corporation had been chosen to build 20 Saturn first-stage (S-1) boosters similar to the one tested successfully on October 27 . They would be constructed at the Michoud facility near New Orleans, La. The contract, worth about $200 million, would run through 1966, with delivery of the first booster scheduled for early 1964.

Four Navy officers were injured when an electrical spark ignited a fire in an altitude chamber, near the end of a 14-day experiment at the U.S. Navy Air Crew Equipment Laboratory, Philadelphia, Pa. The men were participating in a NASA experiment to determine the effect on humans of breathing pure oxygen for 14 days at simulated altitudes.

The hydrogen peroxide temperature has risen to +1 deg C, and the cabin pressure is at 380 mm. The eighth stellar orientation and midcourse manoeuvre was made successful - the 100K sensor has rehabilitated itself. The 3.3-second burn moved the perigee by 25 km, and the spacecraft is expected to hit the center of the re-entry corridor - 49 km altitude plus/minus 7 km. But the State Commission has decided to arm the APO destruct system to destroy the spacecraft if it deviates from its ballistic trajectory.

NASA discontinued the use of names such "LEO," "ALEM," and "Apollo Lunar Exploration Program" that had been used since Apollo 11 to identify the lunar exploration phase of the Apollo program. Henceforth, the single word title "Apollo" would be used when referring to the program. Additional Details: here....

It is decided to send only Volynov and Khrunov to the FAI Congress in India. Shatalov and Yeliseyev are too busy with training on the DOS-7K simulator. Luna 17 has landed on the moon with the Lunokhod lunar rover, another success. DOS#1 is behind schedule for the planned 5 February 1971 launch. It still has not been decided, which will launch first - Soyuz 10 or the DOS station. Such indecision makes it very difficult to train the crews! The simulators for Soyuz, L3, DOS, and Almaz are all now in full use for crew training. Kamanin discusses with engineers construction of a pool for EVA training (25 m wide and 12 m deep). Kutakahov is opposed to the project. Chelomei has been ordered to accelerate the first Almaz launch to 1972, if he can resist the continuous attacks by Mishin. Mishin has become very accomplished, on the N1/L3 program, in spending huge amounts of money with no result.

Unmanned long duration test of the Soyuz transport vehicle; docked with Salyut 4. Recovered February 16, 1976 2:24 GMT. Comprehensive checking of improved on-board systems of the space craft under various flight conditions. Carried a biological payload. Living organisms were exposed to three months in space.

Three transponders for direct broadcast television. Stationed at 70 deg E. Used SPT-100 plasma engine. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 71 deg E in 1995-1996; 36 deg E in 1996-1999 As of 5 September 2001 located at 36.88 deg E drifting at 0.031 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 62.06E drifting at 1.427W degrees per day.

Sirius 4 carried Ku-band and Ka-band communications payloads for Nordic, Baltic and East European communications. Three upper-stage burns placed Sirius 4 into a 6916 km x 35478 km x 17.4 deg geostationary transfer orbit. A series of maneuvers by the satellite using its own Leros engine maneuvered the satellite into geosynchronous orbit, stationed at 5 deg East.

Four more European navigation satellites in the Galileo system were launched. An Ariane 5ES rocket was used; the restartable EPS upper stage placed the satellites (FM07, FM12, FM13 and FM14, redesignated GalileoSat 15 to 18 after launch) in orbit. The 5ES model was previously used for ATV cargo ship launches.