During the previous three weeks in the Hague / Wassenaar, usually one or two rockets were launched on a day. But now with the Battery 444 troops from Gaasterland, no less then 6 rockets were launched per day. The new launch site was the Rijswijkse Bos, several meters away from a monument which remembers to the peace was made in 1697.
The first full range tactical prototype, was fired from AMR at 2220 hours EST. All missions assigned to the flight was successfully accomplished. The missile covered a prescribed range of 1,600.448 nm, with the nose cone impacting 0.9 nm short and 0.6 nm to the right. This was the fourth Chrysler-assembled missile to be flight tested.
Lunar Orbiter, further development of artificial lunar satellite systems and conduct of scientific experiments in circumlunar space. Luna 12 was launched towards the Moon from an earth-orbiting platform and achieved a lunar orbit of of 100 km x 1740 km on October 25, 1966. The spacecraft was equipped with a television system that obtained and transmitted photographs of the lunar surface. The photographs contained 1100 scan lines with a maximum resolution of 14.9--19.8 m. Pictures of the lunar surface were returned on October 27, 1966. According to contemporary US intelligence sources, only four pictures were returned. Radio transmissions from Luna 12 ceased on January 19, 1967, after 602 lunar orbits and 302 radio transmissions.
The SPS engine was used to deorbit after 259 hours 39 minutes of flight. CM-SM separation and operation of the earth landing system were normal, and the spacecraft splashed down about 13 kilometers from the recovery ship (27.32 N 64.04 W), the U.S.S. Essex at 11:11 GMT. Although the vehicle initially settled in an apex-down ("stable 2") attitude, upright bags functioned normally and returned the CSM to an upright position in the water. Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham were quickly picked up by a recovery helicopter and were safe aboard the recovery vessel less than an hour after splashdown.
All primary Apollo 7 mission objectives were met, as well as every detailed test objective (and three test objectives not originally planned). Engineering firsts from Apollo 7, aside from live television from space, included drinking water for the crew produced as a by-product of the fuel cells. Piloting and navigation accomplishments included an optical rendezvous, daylight platform realignment, and orbital determination via sextant tracking of another vehicle. All spacecraft systems performed satisfactorily. Minor anomalies were countered by backup systems or changes in procedures. With successful completion of the Apollo 7 mission, which proved out the design of the Block II CSM (CSM 101), NASA and the nation had taken the first step on the pathway to the moon.
Although the systems worked, the crew became grumpy with head colds and talked back to the ground. As a result, NASA management determined that none of them would fly again. Apollo 7 landed at 07:12 GMT.
The Flight Crew Operations Directorate expressed opposition to a major effort to develop a lunar flyer until after the Apollo 16 mission. Plans for Apollo flights 12 through 16 required that the LM be maneuvered to landings at various points of scientific interest on the lunar surface, and experience from Apollo 11 and partial gravity simulators indicated the crews would be able to accomplish their surface EVA tasks for these missions without the aid of a mobility device.
The cosmonauts fly from Baikonur to Moscow, escorted by six MiG-21 fighters to Vnukovo airfield, where they receive honours all around, followed by meetings with reporters. Brezhnev was no there - he was on his way to Baikonur to observe the Tyulpan ICBM exercise.
Deployed Lageos 2, CTA. Payloads: Laser Geodynamic Satellite (LAGEOS) II/ Italian Research Interim Stage (IRIS), Canadian Experiments (CANEX) 2, United States Micro-gravity Payload (USMP) 1, Attitude Sensor Pack-age (ASP), Tank Pressure Control Experiment (TPCE), Physiological Systems Experiment (PSE), Heat Pipe Performance (HPP) experiment, Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG), Shuttle Plume Impingement Experiment (SPIE), Commercial Materials ITA Experiment (CMIX), Crystals by Vapor Transport Experiment (CVTE).
International communications. The Intelsat 7 and 7A series were nearly identical except for an increase in the number of Ku-band transponders in the 7A series. Spacecraft: 3-axis stabilised. Hydrazine propulsion system. Two large solar panels with 1-axis articulation provide 3900W BOL. Payload: 7: 26 C-Band and 10 Ku-Band transponders.18,000 telephone calls and 3 colour TV broadcasts simultaneously. Or up to 90,000 telephone circuits using digital circuit multiplication equipment (DCME).7A: 26 C-Band and 14 Ku-Band transponders.22,500 telephone calls and 3 colour TV broadcasts simultaneously. Or up to 112,500 telephone circuits using DCME. Three independently steerable, high-powered, Ku-band spot beams. Independently steerable C-band spot beam coverage. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 121 deg E in 1993; 174 deg E in 1994-1997; 180 deg W in 1997-1999 As of 6 September 2001 located at 179.91 deg W drifting at 0.004 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 179.97W drifting at 0.001E degrees per day.
A national conference of space scientists held in southern Beihai, Guangxi, said that the Moon and Mars were the 'two big targets' for the country's space programme in the 21st century. Ye Zili, the China Space Science Association's General Secretary, said that dozens of plans and proposals for the two projects had been put forward. However no substantial government funding for such projects was to be available in the immediate future.
Discovery's astronauts prepared for a Monday landing after high crosswinds at Kennedy Space Center caused a delay of at least one day in their return to Earth and the end of their successful mission to expand the International Space Station and ready it for its first crew. Additional Details: here....
Launch delayed from July 20. The PS4 upper stage deployed the 1108 kg Indian TES (Technology Experiment Satellite) into a sun-synchronous orbit at 05:09:10 GMT. TES was an imaging satellite equipped with cameras and instruments to test military reconnaissance satellite technology. It was probably based on the IRS remote sensing satellite and carried a one-meter resolution panchromatic camera. India decided to develop an independent indigenous reconnaissance satellite capability after the 1999 incursion of Pakistani troops into disputed territory in Kashmir caught it by surprise. TES was developed by ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organization.
Proba (PRoject for On-Board Autonomy, 1) was a European Space Agency technology development minisatellite with a mass of 94 kg. It carried a radiation detector, an IR spectrometer, debris impact detectors, Earth imaging cameras, and an experimental spacecraft processor for spacecraft autonomy experiments. The satellite was built by Verheart in Belgium using the MiniSIL bus developed by SI of England, and was controlled from Belgium. After release of the TES and BIRD satellites, the PS4's upper stage small RCS engines raised the orbit to 553 x 676 km, and PROBA was ejected at 0520 GMT.
BIRD (Bispectral IR Detector) was a 94 kg German research minisatellite testing a new sensor for Earth imaging studies, detecting forest fires and other hot spots and studying vegetation changes. BIRD was released by the PS4 upper stage 40 seconds after the primary TES satellite payload had been deployed. The technology demonstrator was to help in the design a major remote sensing array of infrared detectors.
India's first lunar probe. Placed by the PSLV into indicated orbit. It then used its own engines for translunar injection. It entered an initial lunar orbit of 504 km x 7502 km x 90.0 deg on November 8, maneuvering to the planned 100 x 100 km orbit by November 12.
Moon Impact Probe, released from Chandraayan-1 in lunar orbit on November 14 at 14:36 GMT. The MIP fired its own deorbit motor and impacted the moon at 15:01 GMT, near the Shackleton Crater at the south pole. The impact plume was scanned by the Chandraayan-1 orbiter and ground-based telescopes for evidence of lunar polar ice.
Removed and jettisoned Radiometriya experiment from Zvezda Plane II, removed EXPOSE-R experiment protective cover, took surface samples from Pirs extravehicular hatch 2 window (TEST experiment), removed and jettisoned two KURS attennas from Poisk, photographed exterior of ISS Russian segment.