This funding would continue through 1941. The first test series was designated the A Series (A1-A14). The A series rockets used simple pressure feed, gyroscopic control by means of vanes, and parachute. The rockets in this series averaged in length from 13 ft 6 in. to 15 ft 3 1/4 in.; their weight empty varied from 58 lb to 85 lb.

Three launches were made from Arensch, including two successful launches of the prototype of the large meteorological rocket developed by Ernst Mohr of Wuppertall. The launches were witnessed by Vice-President Ross. The redesigned Mohr rockets were 2.5 m long, 30 cm in diameter, had a total mass of 80 kg and produced 7.8 tonnes thrust. Cutoff velocity was 1200 m/s at 1200 m altitude. The payload dart then separated and coasted up to 50 km altitude. It was later planned to install meteorological instruments on these rockets.

Gemini Project Office reported a delay of about three weeks in the battery qualification program. McDonnell had sent a team to investigate the problem of high porosity welds in titanium battery cases. Another problem had turned up with the batteries in prequalification vibration test. The batteries vibrated excessively, although they did not fail electrically; the vibration's amplification factor was apparently low enough to be remedied by potting.

Kamanin reviews the Voskhod abort system with Korolev. Up to T+27 seconds, there is no possibility of saving the crew in the event of a booster failure; from T+27 seconds to T+44 seconds, escape would be difficult, but is possible; and from T+44 seconds to T+501 seconds abort should be possible, with the capsule landing on Soviet territory. Afterwards, Korolev speaks with Kamanin secretly and privately. Korolev reveals that he has discussed a greater VVS role in space with Marshal Krylov, but that Krylov is adamantly opposed to the VVS assuming such a mission. Korolev is seeking a resolution from the Communist Party that will authorise him to develop a manned lunar flyby and landing system using his N1 booster. He believes that Chelomei's UR-500 booster will not have sufficient payload to mount a manned flyby - a docking in low earth orbit will be required. But Chelomei has rejected the use of docking, and is even designing his UR-700 to allow a lunar landing without the use of docking.

Finally Korolev gets to the purpose of the secret meeting. He wants Feoktistov to be aboard Voskhod 1, despite the opinion of Kamanin and the physicians. Kamanin reiterates that the most qualified crew would be Komarov, Volynov, and Lazarev; and if he gives in on Feoktistov, then Komarov, Feoktistov, Lazarev. But Korolev is opposed to Lazarev, and insists that the crew should be Komarov, Feoktistov, and Yegorov. From Kamanin's point of view this is flying a space mission with two invalids aboard. Lazarev is a qualified and fit flight surgeon, a qualified pilot as well as a physician with 15 years of research experience in aviation medicine. Korolev is adamant that the two passengers should be civilian, not military. No agreement is possible.

NASA selected the Perkin-Elmer and Chrysler corporations to study feasibility of including optical-technology experiments, particularly lasers and large telescopes, in future extended Apollo flights. NASA was also interested in optical communication in deep space, the effects of space environment on optical systems, and related experiments. The program would be directed by MSFC.

First successful circumlunar flight with recovery. Test flight of manned spacecraft; launched from an earth parking orbit to make a lunar flyby and return to earth. On September 18, 1968, the spacecraft flew around the moon at an altitude of 1950 km. High quality photographs of the earth were taken at a distance of 90,000 km. A biological payload of turtles, wine flies, meal worms, plants, seeds, bacteria, and other living matter was included in the flight. Before re-entry the gyroscopic platform went off line due to ground operator failure. However this time the self destruct command was not given. After a ballistic 20G re-entry the capsule splashed down in the Indian Ocean at 32:63 S, 65:55 E on September 21, 1968 16:08 GMT. Soviet naval vessels were 100 km from the landing location and recovered the spacecraft the next day, shipping it via Bombay back to Soviet Union. Additional Details: here....

Venera 12 was part of a two-spacecraft mission to study Venus and the interplanetary medium. Each of the two spacecraft, Venera 11 and Venera 12, consisted of a flight platform and a lander probe. Identical instruments were carried on both spacecraft. Venera 12 was launched into a 177 x 205 km, 51.5 degree inclination Earth orbit from which it was propelled into a 3.5 month Venus transfer orbit which involved two mid-course corrections, on 21 September and 14 December. After ejection of the lander probe on 19 December, two days before encounter, the flight platform continued on past Venus in a heliocentric orbit. Near encounter with Venus occurred on December 21, 1978, at approximately 34,000 km altitude. The flight platform acted as a data relay for the descent craft for 110 minutes until it flew out of range and returned to its own measurements on interplanetary space. The Venera 12 descent craft entered the Venus atmosphere at 11.2 km/sec two days after separation from the flight bus. During the descent, it employed aerodynamic braking followed by parachute braking and ending with atmospheric braking. It made a soft landing on the surface at 06:30 Moscow time on 21 December after a descent time of approximately 1 hour. The touchdown speed was 7-8 m/s.

Both Venera 11 and 12 landers failed to return colour television views of the surface and perform soil analysis experiments. All of the camera protective covers failed to eject after landing (the cause was not established) The soil drilling experiment was apparently damaged by a leak in the soil collection device, the interior of which was exposed to the high Venusian atmospheric pressure. The leak had probably formed during the descent phase because the lander was less aerodynamically stable than had been thought. Therefore the landing gear of the following two landers (Venera-13/14) were equipped with tooth-shaped stabilisers.

Results reported included evidence of lightning and thunder, a high Ar36/Ar40 ratio, and the discovery of carbon monoxide at low altitudes.

The Venera-12 flyby bus continued in solar orbit and successfully used its Soviet-French ultraviolet spectrometer to study Comet Bradfield on 13 February 1980 (one year and two months after its Venus encounter). At that time the spacecraft was 190,373,790 km from Earth.

High resolution photo surveillance; film capsule; maneuverable; also performed earth resource tasks. Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation.

Some weeks ago TsUP announced that the 3 EVA-s, which had been planned for Sept. this year had been put back and that this crew (the 14th main expedition to Mir) would not make any EVA-s at all. Later on there happened to be a plan to execute an EVA on 10.09.93. This EVA has been put back also. Meanwhile it was obvious that 1 or more EVA-s are badly needed for the inspection of the outer surface of the whole complex. Experts even considered the use of the SPK (MMU) for EVA-s. Board- engineer Serebrov knows how to fly with the SPK: he was the first cosmonaut to fly with it on 1.02.90. Radio traffic during recent passes revealed that the crew is preparing an EVA. Whether they will use the SPK or not is not clear.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE PERSEID METEORITE STREAM ON 12.08.93:

After a long period of silence the Russians officially admitted that the station suffered from hits caused by minuscule particles during the Perseid-meteorite stream. One hit even caused a hole in a solar battery with the diameter of appr. 6 cm. Meanwhile messages and questions about the damages reached the Mir crew by amateur radio. Experts are evaluating the eventual influence of the damages on the power supply of the complex. The crew cannot see the whole outer surface of the station from inside and so EVA-s must be carried out to inspect it thoroughly.

RADIO-AMATEUR TRAFFIC:

For some weeks again a lot of Packet radio tfc on 145.550 mc. Sometimes there are also calls by 'phone' on that frequency. On 12 and 13.09.93 the crew used 145.500 mc to contact the Irish amateur EI3SI by speech.

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

After the return of the freighter Progress-M39, the cosmonauts were able to execute a number of experiments. From 1 until 3.09.98 they worked on geophysical, astrophysical and medical experiments. During the geophysical experiments they used the lidar Alisa. Apart from medical experiments the cosmonauts also underwent routine check-ups of their cardiovascular system.

In this period, but also thereafter, not much was reported about technical failures. Now and then the CO2 scrubber, Vozdukh, in the Base Block received extra attention and the BKV-3, the a.c., was less capricious and mostly functioned without hiccups after it had been switched off and on some times. The internal pressure of the system remained the problem.

Communications:

Meanwhile the passes of the Mir-complex for Western Europe shifted to the night. So not much radio traffic can be monitored. Observers in Finland and Sweden confirmed that Luch-1/Gelios is used for Russian manned spaceflight and produces very strong signals. To be able to do somewhat with those signals they have to do a lot of experimental work before they can do with Luch-1 what we could do with Altair-1 and later on with Altair-2. One of them has a dish with a diameter of 3.5 Meter and via a channel not in use for Mir-TsUP traffic, he produced nice pictures of a Proton launch relayed by Luch-1/Gelios.

Radio-amateurism:

Until 2.09.98 the 145.940 mc was in use for Packet Radio. As of 2.09 Packet Radio they use 145.985 mc again.

1st Spacewalk (internal Spacewalk) crew Main Expedition Mir nr. 26:

After 3.09.98 most attention of the cosmonauts was dedicated to the preparations for the Internal spacewalk scheduled for half September. Until 15.09.98 the crew used some days to check spacesuits and equipment, but also to prepare the complicated procedures in relation to the disconnection of cables in order to close some hatches of the P.Kh.O. during the IVA. The internal spacewalk (IVA) inside the module Spektr will be executed in the night from 15 to 16.09.98. The IVA will last approx. 3 hrs, but the times still have to be confirmed. Possibly the hatch between the P.Kh.O. (transition section) and Spektr will be opened on 15.09.1998 at 2100 UTC. Radio traffic during the preparations and the IVA itself will be handled via the Eastern tracking stations in Russia and the Luch-1/Gelios satellite. During some small windows radio communications might be monitored in Western Europe during the first passes of the Mir-complex, to begin with that in orbit 71828, 2247-2255 UTC.

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

Direct Broadcasting satellite. Launch postponed from July 25. Astra 2B was an Astrium/Toulouse Eurostar 2000+ television broadcast satellite owned by the Luxembourg-based Societe Europeene de Satellites. The satellite was to be stationed at 28.2E to replace the German DFS Kopernikus. It carried 28 Ku-band transponders. By September 19 Astra 2B was in a 31,153 x 35,762 km x 0.3 deg orbit, approaching geosynchronous altitude. Stationed at 28 deg E. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 28 deg E in 2000. As of 20 August 2001 located at 28.50 deg E drifting at 0.011 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 28.15E drifting at 0.017W degrees per day.

Direct Broadcasting satellite. GE Americom satellite to provide cable TV distribution coverage to the USA. Equipped with 24 C-band transponders. Its dry mass was 912 kg and it carried 1023 kg of fuel at launch. The satellite is an A2100A model built by Lockheed Martin/Lockheed, the first lightweight A2100 with a mass about half that of earlier A2100 satellites. By September 19 GE 7 was in a 35,832 x 35,869 km x 0.1 deg orbit drifting over 146 deg W. Stationed at 137 deg W. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 137 deg W in 2000. As of 4 September 2001 located at 136.92 deg W drifting at 0.003 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 137.03W drifting at 0.000E degrees per day.

Progress M-SO1 was the designation given to the service module section of a Progress M; the 3900 kg Pirs docking and airlock module for the ISS replaced the standard cargo and fuel sections. It also carried an astronaut chair, a space suit, a small crane, and some equipment for the Zvezda module of the ISS. Progress-M No. 301 was launched into an initial 180 km circular orbit. By September 16 it had maneuvered into a 238 x 264 km orbit; by 0038 GMT on September 17, a 385 x 395 km x 51.6 deg orbit upon rendezvous with the ISS. The Progress began a fly around of the station and lined up with the nadir port on Zvezda. Docking of Pirs with Zvezda came at 0105 GMT on September 17. The Progress M-SO1 later undocked from the Pirs nadir port to leave it free for future dockings. Pirs gave extra clearance from the Station for ships docking underneath Zvezda, and was also used as an airlock for spacewalks using the Russian Orlan EVA suits. Progress M-SO1 service module undocked from the Pirs module at 1536 GMT on September 26 and was deorbited over the Pacific at 2330 GMT the same day.

Another of a series of new lunar probes to be launched in the next few years by China, India, Japan, USA, and Europe. Selene was dubbed Kaguya, a Japanese moon goddess, after launch. It included an HDTV camera. In lunar orbit two subsatellites would be released to provide continuous communications as well as better characterize the moon's gravity field. By 30 September Kaguya was in a 2243 km x 378,132 km lunar transfer orbit. On 3 October at 21:00 GMT it entered its initial 101 km x 11741 km x 95 deg lunar orbit. It then began maneuvers to enter its operational 100 km circular orbit, releasing the subsatellites on 9 and 12 October.

Recoverable spacecraft derived from the Vostok. Carried Russian and European microgravy, life sciences and technology experiments. After deploying the YES-2 tether on 25 September, Foton M-3 was deorbited at 07:23 GMT on 26 September and successfully landed at 07:58 GMT in Kazakhstan.

YES-2/Fotino space tether for re-entry experiment. The YES-2 tether was deployed from the Nauka module at the front end of Foton at 04:47 on 25 September, and releaed at 07:20 after reaching only 8.5 km of the planned 30 km tether length. The 5 kg Fotino reentry capsule separated from the MASS data support system at the end of the tether at around 07:30. The idea was to toss the Fotino against the direction of orbital motion to push it into a lower orbit and re-entry without the need for a retrorocket. Unfortunately the final outcome of the experiment remained unknown.

Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere; carryied a 0.20-meter silicon carbide mirror with an extreme ultraviolet spectrometer observing in the 550 to 1450 Angstrom range, used to study the exospheres of planets in our solar system. First launch of Japan's Epsilon solid propellant launch vehicle.

On Sep 14 the Nanoracks NRCSD-9 deployer was pulled from the Kibo airlock by the Japanese RMS arm, and at 1525 UTC two Flock 2E Prime satellites were ejected into space, with six more to come from the same deployer. These satellites have been aboard ISS since their delivery aboard Cygnus OA-6 in March.