NASA formally organized Project Mercury to: (1) place manned space capsule in orbital flight around the earth; (2) investigate man's reactions to and capabilities in this environment; and (3) recover capsule and pilot safely. A NASA Space Task Group organized at Langley Research Center drew up specifications for the Mercury capsule, based on studies by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics during the preceding 12 months, and on discussions with the Air Force which had been conducting related studies.

AEC briefing held at the Nevada Test Site at Jackass Flats, Nev., for representatives of 26 companies for proposals to study the requirements for a National Nuclear Rocket Engine Development Facility. Existing test facilities are fully committed to the development of nuclear reactors.

Kamanin meets with Nikolayev to discuss the timing for his enforced wedding to Tereshkova. Nikolayev is evasive, doesn't want to set a date, won't give a direct answer. Kamanin points out the wedding will be the subject of a government decree and a precise date must be set. The possible days are limited due to Tereshkova's heavy travel schedule. Nevertheless Nikolayev refuses to commit to a date in October.

At 7 am the Cosmos 47 landing commission convenes. Kamanin has had only three hours sleep. The spacecraft is to conduct retrofire on its 17th orbit of the earth and land in Kustan, where winds are 15-17 m/s. The capsule made a good landing, with the parachute-rocket soft landing system working perfectly - the spacecraft had zero velocity on impact with the ground. The spacecraft penetrated 90 mm into the ground. The strong winds caught the parachute after landing and dragged it 160 m, but if a crew had been aboard they could have quickly commanded separation of the parachute. All systems of the booster and spacecraft worked perfectly, except that the third stage engines' thrust fell by 10% for three seconds, but the engine controller detected the shortfall and made up the velocity.

In a memorandum to the NASA Deputy Administrator, Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight George E. Mueller commented on the AS-202 impact error. Mueller said the trajectory of the August 25 AS-202 mission was essentially as planned except that the command module touched down about 370 kilometers short of the planned impact point. Additional Details: here....

In Moscow, Mishin heads a meeting of all the Chief Designers (including Chelomei, Mishin, and Glushko). Glushko says that the last UR-500K failure was due to errors made during manufacture of an engine in 1965 at Factory 19 at Perm. Ustinov notes that the failure has cost the state 100 million roubles and has delayed the program two to three months. He brutally attacks Dementiev, Minister of Aviation Industry, for the poor work of his factories on the space program. Another issue is continued delays in the Salyut computer for the L1. Ustinov orders an alternate technical solution to be developed in parallel with the digital computer development. The next Soyuz flight is set for the end of December, the next L1 attempt for 21-22 November.

Tyulin is still complaining that the VVS never signed the L1 design specification. But the crews are ready for flight. The flight of Apollo 8 to the moon is announced. Kamanin considers this an adventure with no chance of success. After all, there have been only two Saturn V launches, the last one a partial failure. The US has never flown a crew to escape velocity or lunar distance. The whole thing is a risky, unsafe adventure.

In preparation for the flight of Apollo 8, NASA and industry technicians at KSC placed CSM 103 atop the Saturn V launch vehicle. The launch escape system was installed the following day; and on October 9 the complete AS-503 space vehicle was rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building and moved to the launch pad, where launch preparations were resumed.

The third NAVSTAR satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB on board an Atlas booster. Both the booster and the satellite itself functioned normally, and the satellite began operating at its final station on 31 October. Technology prototype of Navstar satellite.

"Rise and Shine, Discovery!" written and performed by Boeing Aerospace & Electronics Co. Employees as a tribute to the successful deployment of the Ulysses probe, using a Boeing built booster. Sung by the Boeing Employees Choir. Michael Kysar, Boeing Choir Director, and Gloria Ball, choir member, collaborated on words and music. It includes the refrain: Sailing along, sailing along, flying to explore the galaxy.

The launch of this freighter was planned for 15.10.1996. Due to problems with the carrier-rocket the launch has been put back possibly to 2.11.1996.

Mir-routine: Mir's passes for our position are gradually shifting from the night to the late evening hours. So still not much traffic via VHF. Now and then the Russians use the geostationary Altair-1 (Cosmos-2054) for Mir-communications. On 5.10.1996 the crew spoke with TsUP about a lot of condenstation in a cable compartment. Possibly this problem has been resolved as they did not mention it the next day. During conversations with TsUP on 6.10.1996 the cosmonauts mentioned the dismissal of Gen. Ivanov from his command of the VKS (space forces). They supposed that this also means that Gen. Ivanov also has been relieved of his chairmanship of the State Committee for Spaceflight. This committee always selects which crew will fly and the chairman takes the oath of departing crews. General Ivanov has a long and excellent career in spaceflight and the relinquishment of his command must be a heavy blow for Russian spaceflight. At least this is my opinion, but I am sure that the cosmonauts will share this opinion with me. John Blaha: He is like his predecessor very active and from conversations in Russian as well in English with specialists on earth can be derived that he is very enthusiastic. He still has to accustom himself to the differences between his training in replicas on earth and the practice in space. On earth things in training modules have been put straight in contradiction to the situation on board. Often it takes him a long time and consultations with the earth to find things he needs for his experiments. During passes of the Mir-station during working hours it might be possible that Blaha uses the 130.165 mc while his Russian colleagues use 143.625 mc. The arrangement for the use of 130.165 mc will be made on 143.625 mc. They speak about UKW-dva , they mean 130.165 mc.

Radio-amateur traffic: The 145.550 mc is fully in use for Packet radio and often Korzun can be heard in phone with amateurs on earth. Korzun is a skilled and enthusiastic radio-amateur. It is also worth while to monitor the 437.925 and 437.950 mc for traffic via the Safex installation in the Priroda module. The 437 mc band is primary for ISM-purposes (Industrial, Scientific and Medical). In my neighbourhood this band is fully blocked by a hospital using that band for health monitoring equipment. I would be very pleased to hear experiences in this field from friends in other parts of our globe.

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

The undocking of this freighter failed on 6.10 at 1124 UTC. Cause was a human error: the crew had forgotten to remove a clamp from the docking mechanism (the Russian word is 'styazhka', a clamp or spanner to tighten the docking). The Russians decided to postpone the undocking until 7.10. On 7.10.1997 at 12.03.47 UTC Progress-M35 separated from Mir and after a short period in which Progress-M35 hovered at a distance of 10 Meters Progress-M35 moved away for a short autonomous flight. The decay in the atmosphere over a designated area in the Pacific East of New Zealand will take place at 1734 UTC.

Progress-M36:

The docking of this freighter at Mir has been put back until 8.10.1997 at 1713 UTC.

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

ISS Assembly flight delayed from March 22, April 4, August 22, September 28, October 2 due to payload delays and then SSME problems. American shuttle spacecraft STS-112 carried a crew of five Americans and one Russian to the International Space Station (ISS). During the 11-day mission, the crew extended the truss system of the exterior rail line with a 14-m, 13-ton girder. The crew also tested a manual cart on the rails. The cart, named CETA (Crew and Equipment Transportation Aid), was designed to increase mobility of crew and equipment during the later installation phases. STS-112 landed back in Cape Canaveral at 15:43 UT on 2002 October 18 carrying the same crew of six.

The airlock was depressurized at about 12:25 GMT and repressurized at 18:43 GMT. The failed Pump Module, serial number 04, which was stowed on the Mobile Base System's POA mount during an EVA on 2013 Dec 21, was relocated to External Stowage Platform 2. A new unit called the Mobile Transporter Relay Assembly (MTRA) was attached to the transporter to provide backup power.

Satellite cluster deployed in a single launch, described as China's first commercial imaging satellite system, built by the Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company, a spinoff of the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) in Jilin province. The 420-kg main satellite had an 0.7 m resolution imager. Two 92-kg 'smart video imaging satellites' and a single 50-kg 'smart imaging verification satellite' completed the cluster.