In a memorandum to NASA Associate Administrator Robert C. Seamans, Jr., Robert L. King, Executive Secretary, described the action taken on certain items discussed at the July 14-15 meeting of the Space Exploration Program Council. Among these actions was the awarding of a contract to The RAND Corporation to evaluate missions for which nuclear propulsion would be desirable. Included in the study would be the determination of availability dates, cost of development, operational costs, the safety aspects of the missions, and an evaluation of research requirements.

USAF awarded three contracts for speeding development of the Dyna-Soar, a manned orbital space glider. Receiving contracts were Boeing Co. for development of the glider and related systems, Radio Corp. of America for communications and tracking devices, and Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co. for the guidance system.

Gemini Program Manager Charles W. Mathews presented the Gemini Management Panel with the new flight schedule resulting from the lightning strike and hurricane conditions. The schedule was as follows: Gemini-Titan (GT) 2, November 17; GT-3, January 30, 1965; and GT-4, April 12. For GT-4 through GT-7, three-month launch intervals were planned; for the remainder of the program, these intervals would be reduced to two and one half months.

Kamanin meets Korolev at the MIK assembly building at 09:30. Korolev is preoccupied - his wife is in the Kremlin hospital, scheduled for surgery on 1 October. It is a dangerous diversion when all his powers and concentration need to be devoted to clearing the spacecraft for flight. There has been a problem in installing the second seat in the capsule; it won't clear the hatch by 3 mm. At 10:00 Kamanin reviews preparations of the Baikonur recovery forces for a launch abort. He secretly believes, in view of Voskhod's unreliability and unsafe nature, that all such preparations are mainly psychological and of little realistic effectiveness. At 17:00 the State Commission meets to assess launch readiness. Tyulin reveals that the Tral 1P telemetry system aboard Voskhod has failed. The diagnosis is clear, but it will take 6 to 7 days to get a replacement. The tracking ships in the Pacific and Indian Oceans have been there since August, based on Korolev's originally guaranteed launch date. They will run out of supplies by 5-10 October. Finally it is decided that the boosters and spacecraft for both Voskhod missions will be completed in parallel. The launch of the first spacecraft will be will be delayed to 6 October at 10:00 Moscow time. The manned Voskhod will launch no more than six days after the test with mannequins. The tracking ships will be ordered to stay at sea until 15 October. Korolev leaves for Moscow for two days to be with his wife. The second group of cosmonauts are at the cosmodrome to observe spacecraft and launch preparations; now their visit will have to be extended significantly.

The final Minuteman I (LGM-30B) R&D flight test missile (FTM 445) was launched from Cape Canaveral. This brought the total number of Minuteman IB launches to 36 - 31 from the Eastern Test Range and five from Vandenberg. A total of 67 Minuteman I (LGM-30A and LGM-30B) flight test missiles had been launched since FTM 101 on 1 February 1961, 54 from the Cape and 13 from Vandenberg.

The second planned manned Apollo flight crew was named by NASA. Prime crew members were Walter M. Schirra, Jr., command pilot; Donn F. Eisele, senior pilot; and R. Walter Cunningham, pilot. Backup crewmen were Frank Borman, command pilot; Thomas P. Stafford, senior pilot; and Michael Collins, pilot. The flight was scheduled for 1967. It would be the first space mission for Eisele and Cunningham.

The second manned Apollo mission was planned as an open-ended earth orbital mission up to 14 days. Increased emphasis on scientific experiments as well as repeating some activities from the first planned manned flight would characterize the mission. (The first planned manned Apollo mission was ended by a tragic accident during a test January 27, 1967.)

Meeting with the crew commanders for the upcoming flights. The ship's logs/flight plans are reviewed. The draft flight plans provided by Anokhin at TsKBEM had many errors that had to be corrected. Shatalov proposes a method of making a more fuel-efficient docking on the flight - uncoupling the automatic system and accomplishing not just the final docking manoeuvres but the terminal rendezvous manoeuvres manually. The flight specialists agree to review the proposal.

Chertok, Bezverby VK - Discussed the docking systems for heavy modules (MKBS). The draft decree for the station, however, is stuck in reviews by the leadership: "Called Afanasyev- Status of the draft decree on MKBS (lies with Rabinovich). The draft decree on development of greater power (the letter is with Slavsky EP). (Mishin Diaries 2-346)

Unmanned military Soyuz 7K-S test flight. Recovered October 3, 1975 4:10 GMT. Unsuccessful mission. Transmitted only on 166 MHz frequency, at none of the other usual Soyuz wavelengths.
Maneuver Summary:
193 km X 270 km orbit to 195 km X 300 km orbit. Delta V: 8 m/s
196 km X 300 km orbit to 196 km X 328 km orbit. Delta V: 8 m/s
Total Delta V: 16 m/s

Remarkably, due to continuing failures, the 8K82K did not satisfactorily complete its state trials until its 61st launch (Salyut 6 / serial number 29501 / 29 September 1977). Thereafter it reached a level of launch reliability comparable to that of other world launch vehicles.

Conduct of scientific and technical research and experiments; further testing of station design, on-board system and equipment. Soyuz 25 docking unsuccessful. EVA 20 Dec 1977 to examine forward docking port (no damage). EVA 29 July 1978 to retrieve externally mounted experiments (micrometeorites, biopolymers, radiation plates, materials tests). Soyuz 33 failure to dock due to propulsion failure April 1979. Soyuz 34 launched unmanned to provide replacement vehicle June 1979. EVA August 15 to dislodge 10 m diameter KRT-10 radio telescope from aft docking collar. Repair mission Soyuz T-3 December 1980 (temperature control hydraulics). Repair mission Soyuz T-4 March 1981 (stuck solar array). Salyut ejected a module on May 31 (perhaps retained Soyuz Orbital Module). Kosmos 1267 docks 19 June 1981. Commanded to reentry using Kosmos 1267 propulsion system over Pacific July 29 1982. Additional Details: here....

Launch date suspect Transmission of Central Television programmes to a network of receivers for collective use. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 99 deg E in 1983-1984 As of 28 August 2001 located at 73.31 deg E drifting at 0.215 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 73.35E drifting at 0.222W degrees per day.

Manned five crew. First shuttle reflight after Challenger disaster. Deployed TDRS 3. Payloads: Deploy IUS (lnertial Upper Stage) with Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)-C. 3M's Physical Vapor Transport Organics Solids 2 experiment (PVTOS), Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF), Infrared Communi-cations Flight Experiment (lRCFE), Protein Crystal Growth Il (PCG), Isoelectric Focusing (ISF)-2, Phase Partitioning Experiment (PPE), Aggrega-tion of Red Blood Cells (ARC)-2, Mesoscale Lightning Experiment (MLE)-1, Earth Limb Radiance (ELRAD), Orbiter Experiments (OEX), Autonomous Supporting Instrumentation System (OASlS)-I, two Shuttle Student Involvement Project (SSIP) experiments.

NASA communications; 171 deg W; deployed from STS-26 . Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 151 deg W in 1988; 171 deg W in 1989-1990; 174 deg W in 1990-1991; 62 deg W in 1991-1994;171 deg W in 1994-1995; 85 deg E in 1995-1999 As of 26 August 2001 located at 85.17 deg E drifting at 0.007 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 84.98E drifting at 0.004W degrees per day.

The preparations for the launch of this ship with the relief crew and the Euromir94 astronaut are proceeding normally. The launch from Baykonur is scheduled for 3.10.94 at 2242 UTC (so for Moscow: 4.10.94 at 0142 Msc Winter Time.) If all goes well during the 2-days flight the Soyuz-TM20 will dock to the Mir complex on 6.10.94 at 0013 UTC. Radio traffic and beacon signals from Soyuz-TM20 can be monitored in our area for the first time on 4.10.94 at abt. 0142 UTC on the known frequencies. The crews on the roll are still: Aleksandr Viktorenko (commander), Yelena Kondakova (board-engineer) and the ESA astronaut, the German Ulf Merbold. The stand-ins: Yuriy Gidzenko (comm.), Sergey Avdeyev (B.E.), and the ESA astronaut, the Spaniard Pedro Duque. If the state commission decides to appoint the main-crew for the flight the crew of Soyuz-TM20 will use the call sign Vityaz (so Vityaz-1, 2 and 3.)

Mir: The Mir-crew is preparing the station for the extension of the crew with another 3 persons. Therefore the life-support systems get special attention. The crew also modified the ASU (waste collection equipment) for the use by a lady. The crew is also busy with the loading of the freighter Progress-M24 with garbage and no things which are no longer needed. The Progress-M24 will have to leave the complex to free the docking port for the Soyuz-TM20. There have been plans to execute some test-approaches by the Progress-M24 after the undocking to try to unveil the causes of the malfunction of the Kurs system during the unsuccessful docking attempts on 26 and 30.08.94. After that operation the Progress-M24 will burn up in the atmosphere over a designated area in the Pacific ocean. Progress-M24 does not carry a VBK (ballistic return capsule).

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

Twentieth Kometa cartographic satellite, using the Yantar service module with a Vostok-type reentry vehicle. It was announced as a dual civil-military geodetic mission. After a day it raised its orbit to 211 x 285 km x 70.4 deg. Landed near Orenburg, Russia on November 14. Deorbit burn was probably around 2230 GMT; the Vostok-style sphere landed at 2253 GMT.

An unmanned Russian resupply craft successfully docked to the International Space Station Sunday, bringing almost a ton of food, fuel and supplies to the residents on board, and for the next trio of space travelers, which will arrive on the ISS in November. Additional Details: here....

SpaceShipOne coasted to 103 km altitude and successfully completed the first of two X-Prize flights. The motor was shut down when the pilot noted that his altitude predictor exceeded the required 100 km mark. The motor burn lasted 77 seconds, 1 second longer than on the June 21st flight. Melvill was prepared to burn the motor up to 89 seconds, which indicates significant additional performance remains in SS1. During the motor burn the spacecraft began to roll uncontrollably, but Melvill pressed on despite advice from the ground to shut the motor down and abort the attempt.

First Chinese manned space laboratory. Placed initially into a 198 km x 332 km x 42.8 deg orbit. Maneuvered to a 336 km x 353 km operational orbit by 30 September in preparation for arrival of the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft that would dock with it.

On Mar 21 2016 China announced the end of "data service" with the Tiangong 1. The 8500 kg lab was in a 377 x 394 km x 42.8 deg orbit; it had made reboost manuevers about twice a year, the most recent on 2015 Dec 16.

Chinese CAST-2000 class remote sensing satellite delivered for Venezuela into a sun-synchronous orbit. Originally designated VRSS-1 (Venezuela Remote Sensing Satellite 1), it was renamed Miranda in orbit after Sebastian Francisco de Miranda Rodriguez 'El Precursor' (1750-1816).

Canadian Space Agency satellite with two payloads: the CASCADE high bandwith Ka-band communications relay package and the ePOP suite of instruments to study the polar ionosphere. The satellite was built by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA Ltd.) using a Bristol Aerospace spacecraft bus. First launch of the Falcon 9 v1.1 upgrade of the Falcon 9 rocket.

Cornell University satellite; carried a differential GPS navigation system and pulsed plasma thrusters. The defunct-before-launch CUSAT 2/Top satellite remained attached to the Falcon 9 second stage. CUSAT (formerly CUSAT 1/Bottom) was launched attached to CUSAT 2 and separated from it after orbit insertion.

Drag and Atmospheric Neutral Density Explorer from the University of Colorado. The sphere carried a particle spectrometer to measure the outer atmosphere wind speed and direction, and a drag measurement system. It was attached to an 8 kg Lightband adapter which was jettisoned on October 30 (cataloged as 2013-055AC) and DANDE then began its atmospheric density studies.