Tim's Space Diary. Straight and to the point

21-26 January (26 January 2010)

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer discovered its first new-found asteroid with a diameter of 1km, designated 2010AB78 at a distance of 98 million miles. NASA's asteroid and near-Earth object experts have said that the agency has found about 85 percent of the largest nearby asteroids, ones that are a half-mile (1 km) wide or larger. But only 15 percent of the 460-foot wide asteroids near Earth have been discovered and tracked to date, and just 5 percent of nearby space rocks about 164 feet (50 meters) across have been found. WISE will also spot millions of new stars and galaxies as it scans the sky in the infrared wavelengths every 11 seconds as it orbits the Earth. The spacecraft launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in December 2009.

“GSLV Mk-III, is the most powerful rocket to be built by ISRO, will make India totally self-reliant in launch vehicle technology for launching INSAT class of communication satellites which are now being put in orbit for India by the European launcher Ariane-5. The GSLV Mk-III will make India totally self-reliant in launch vehicle technology for launching INSAT class of communication satellites, which are now being put in orbit for India by the European launcher Ariane-5. ISRO will meet a milestone for GSLV Mk-III when one of its two S-22 strap-on booster motors, S-200, erupts into life and fires for about 130 seconds. A motor will be fired for 130s at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota in February. Another milestone will be reached when the GSLV Mk-III's core stage (L-110), powered by 110 tonnes of liquid liquid oxygen and hydrogen propellants, fires for about 200 seconds at the huge test stand at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendragiri near Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu. If everything goes on schedule, the first flight of the GSLV Mk-III will take place by the end of 2011. It is the most powerful rocket to be built by the ISRO, weighing 630 tonnes and 43.5 metres tall. It can put a satellite weighing four tonnes in a geo-synchronous transfer orbit with a perigee of about 200 km and an apogee of 36,000 km. It can put a satellite weighing 10 tonnes in a near-earth orbit at an altitude of about 300 km. Preparations are on for the first static test of the S-200 motor at Sriharikota. It will be a milestone in the GSLV Mk-III's development. The S-200 is the third largest booster after the NASA Space Shuttle and Arianespace Ariane-5's boosters.”

“While Ares I is suffering from death throes, NASA is evaluating commercial crew launch options for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in four to five years time. The current favourite for providing this role is the Atlas V-Heavy.”

“SES as the provider of global and American satellite capacity, SES WORLD SKIES, a division of SES S.A. (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), has unveiled the Company's updated strategic satellite fleet development plan, as well as a new naming convention for future additions to the fleet that will leverage SES’ global reach and powerful brand. Three new advanced satellites in various stages of development and construction by Orbital Sciences Corporation are intended to replenish and expand SES WORLD SKIES’ North American fleet and will be named SES-1, SES-2 and SES-3. SES-1 is set for launch in the spring of 2010 and will replace AMC-2 and AMC-4 at the 101 degrees West orbital slot. Further information on launch dates and slots for SES-2 and SES-3 will be published shortly. NSS-14, currently under construction with Space Systems/Loral and scheduled for launch in Q1 2011, has been renamed SES-4. It will replace NSS-7 and provide incremental capacity over the Atlantic Ocean with comprehensive coverage of the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. NSS-7 will then move to replace NSS-5 at 340 degrees East. The C-band payload of the SIRIUS 5 spacecraft, also under construction with Space Systems/Loral and scheduled for launch in Q4 2011, will be named SES-5 and reside together with the Ku-band payload of SIRIUS 5 at 5 degrees East.The NSS-806 replacement satellite, under negotiation with vendors, will be named SES-6. Finally, upon closing of the Protostar-2 acquisition announced late last year, the satellite will be fully integrated into SES WORLD SKIES global fleet and renamed following the same “SES” satellite naming nomenclature.”

“Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) has restructured its business, forming two new business units to manage continuing growth in its Earth Observation and Science and Telecommunications missions.The Telecommunications and Navigation business unit will be run by Dr. John Paffett, who was responsible for Europe's first Galileo navigation satellite, GIOVE-A and SSTL's geostationary communications satellite programme. Also, earlier this month SSTL was awarded a contract with its partner OHB-System for the provision of 14 spacecraft for the European Galileo navigation system. In the near future, SSTL will also begin work with the Telecommunications Regulation Authority of Sri Lanka for the development of a communications satellite and the formation of Sri Lanka's space agency. The Earth Observation and Science business unit will be run by Paul Brooks, currently Director of Business Development and Sales and previously responsible for the Medium Wave Infrared and TopSat remote sensing missions. In the immediate future, SSTL is involved in a remote sensing mission for Kazakhstan and the launch of the NigeriaSat-2 and NX satellites later this year. SSTL CEO Matt Perkins commented: "We see maintaining the SSTL ethos as the company grows as critical to our continued success. The formation of two focussed business units will enable SSTL to grow, whilst preserving this ethos and maintaining our unique and cost effective methodology which is built on a common foundation of engineering and a programmatic approach." The new business units will be responsible for the complete life cycle of missions, ensuring that customers continue to get the close attention that they expect from SSTL as the company grows.”

“Globalstar has announced that the first 90-day window to launch six Globalstar second-generation satellites will open on 5 July 2010. Globalstar plans to launch the new satellites during this time. The satellites will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan using the Soyuz launch vehicle. In the summer of 2007, Globalstar signed a launch services contract with Arianespace for Globalstar's second-generation constellation. These satellites will be integrated with the Globalstar satellites launched on the Soyuz in 2007. Globalstar's customers will experience improvements in service as the new satellites are progressively brought into commercial service. Once the new constellation is deployed, Globalstar expects its service will return to the industry-leading voice quality and reliability levels that customers received prior to 2007. The new constellation also secures Globalstar's space segment beyond 2025, providing the Company with the ability to deliver both legacy and enhanced next-generation satellite voice and data services for at least the next 15 years.”

“Orbital Sciences is still hoping for a March 2011 debut of the company's medium-lift Taurus 2 rocket .The Taurus 2 rocket first stage will use a pair of kerosene-fueled AJ26 main engines provided by Aerojet Corp. The AJ26 is derived from the NK-33 engine developed by the former Soviet Union for the ill-fated N-1 moon rocket of the 1960s and 1970s. Aerojet imported the NK-33 engines from Russia in the 1990s. The Sacramento-based company has 37 NK-33 engines in inventory, plus a few more units of the NK-43 high-altitude engine, according to Julie Van Kleeck, Aerojet's vice president for space programs. Orbital is building the Taurus 2 to launch the company's Cygnus cargo freighter to the International Space Station. The March 2011 launch will be a test flight of the Cygnus to the complex, and the first of eight operational logistics mission will follow late next year.”

“United Launch Alliance plans 10 launches this year with Atlas and Delta rockets to dispatch payloads to space for science, Earth observation, navigation, communications and military reconnaissance missions. The Atlas 5 rocket's Centaur upper stage is stacked at Complex 41 for the February launch of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Seven of the launches will blast off from Cape Canaveral and three missions are slated to originate from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., a ULA spokesperson said. The company's 2010 manifest is down from 16 flawless flights last year, mostly due to the drop in launches of the medium-class Delta 2 rocket, which flew eight times in 2009. Just one Delta 2 mission is on the books this year to launch Italy's COSMO-SkyMed 4 satellite from California in September.The schedule begins next month with the Feb. 9 launch of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral to keep tabs on the sun. Liftoff is scheduled for 1530 GMT (10:30 a.m. EST). On March 1, a Delta 4 rocket with two solid rocket boosters will lift off from Florida with the GOES P weather satellite for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Launch will occur at 2319 GMT (6:19 p.m. EST). A secretive Air Force space plane called the X-37B, or Orbital Test Vehicle, will launch April 19 from the Cape on an Atlas 5 rocket. The X-37B will be shrouded inside a five-meter wide nose cone during launch and will return to Earth to land like an aircraft on a runway. The first satellite in the new generation of Global Positioning System satellites is planned for launch on another Delta 4 vehicle at 0719 GMT (3:19 a.m. EDT) on May 13. After arriving in orbit, the spacecraft will enter the GPS constellation to beam navigation and timing signals to U.S. troops and civilian users around the world.The third Atlas 5 flight of 2010 is expected to launch the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite for the U.S. Air Force this summer. Air Force officials did not provide a launch date, but liftoff is penciled in for some time in the 3rd Quarter of the calendar year.The sole Delta 2 launch is on track for September with the fourth COSMO-SkyMed radar reconnaissance satellite for Italy. That mission will take off from ULA's West Coast facility in California. A trio of top secret spy satellite launches are booked for this fall, including the first launch of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg around Dec. 1. That flight will be preceded by a Delta 4-Heavy launch for the National Reconnaissance Office from Florida in October. That same month, an Atlas 5 will send into orbit a classified U.S. government payload from California, if schedules hold. ULA plans to end the year with one more launch, either another GPS spacecraft or the first SBIRS early warning satellite headed for geosynchronous orbit. Those missions would use a Delta 4 or an Atlas 5 rocket, respectively.

50 years ago
21 January 1960
NASA launched the fourth Little Joe booster with a mock-up of a Mercury spacecraft from Wallops Island, Virginia carrying a rhesus monkey, Miss Sam on a nine-mile high mission, creating a 20g force on the small passenger which was recovered safely.

40 years ago
21 January 1970
The Soviet Union launched a Voskhod booster from Plesetsk carrying the 13,800lb Cosmos 322 Zenit reconnaissance satellite which returned a high resolution film capsule from its 65deg inclination orbit.

23 January
A Thor Delta was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California carrying the first ITOS, 681lb uprated Tiros meterorological satellite into a 101deg inclination, also carrying a Oscar 39lb amateur radio satellite.

16-20 January (20 January 2010)

The USA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel says that cancelling the Ares 1 rocket – designed to be 10 times safer that the Shuttle - in favour of an unproven commercial vehicle is not sensible and neither cost effective. However, the White House might scrap Ares. Astronauts support Ares “as it is the safest launch vehicle ever developed and is safer than any other vehicle in existence or envisioned. If Obama dumps it and goes commercial, the company that builds the replacement would have to meet equally rigorous crew safety requirements. Protecting the lives of astronauts must come first.”

China launched a Long March 3C booster from Xichang at 16.12GMT on 16th January carrying the third second-generation Beidou/Compass navigation satellite into a GEO orbit unlike the earlier two satellites launched in 2007 and 2009, which were placed into mediun Earth orbits. Two first generation satellites were launched in 2000 and 2007. China plans to launch a total of 35 Beidou satellites for a GPS constellation.

The first launch of the European Space Agency’s 98ft tall Vega booster will likely be in early 2011 from the ELA-1 launch pad at Kourou. The payloads will the Italian Space Agency’s Laser Relativity Satellite (LARES), a smaller satellite called ALMsat and nine Cubsats from European universities.
Japan’s plans for a GX medium satellite launcher has been cancelled creating a loss of ten billion for the liquidation of the Galaxy Express Corporation, of which IHI was to have spent. Over 70 billion was spent on the project with 43 billion yen spent by the private sector. The project began in 2003. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Lockheed Martin also contributed in the project.

Sir Martin Sweeting, the founder Surrey Space Centre in Guildford has been received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Elektra Electronics Industry Awards 2009. As a University graduate, Sir Martin challenged conventional space engineering by using commercially available electronics and parts to build small satellites. After securing a “piggy back” launch for his first test satellite with NASA and launching several successful satellites under the University of Surrey, in 1985 Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd was formed to service the clear need for more affordable access to space throughout the World. Sir Martin’s vision is to change the economics of space. His work and determination has enabled countries such as Algeria, Nigeria and Malaysia to establish rewarding space programs, developed a new market for small but advanced satellites, and provided more innovative and cost effective solutions for established space giants such as the United States, Russia, China and Europe. In 2005, the Galileo test satellite GIOVE-A encompassed Sir Martin’s vision; its fresh approach delivering a vital European mission on-time and on budget to secure Europe’s entry into global navigation and timing services . As a result, on the 7th January , SSTL captured its most significant contract, worth more than £200m from the European Commission to manufacture 14 Galileo satellite navigation payloads in partnership with German company OHB-System.

ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain reports that
during 2010 and 2011, ESA will freeze spending at the 2009 level of 3.35 billion euros, or about $4.8 billion. ESA spending has been on the rise since 2006, increasing nearly 10 percent each year as many of the agency's programs went through the most expensive period of development. Although spending will not rise in 2010, ESA's budget this year is 3.74 billion euros, or about $5.4 billion. The bulk of the 2010 budget goes toward navigation, Earth observation, launchers and space science. The new heavy-lift launch vehicle would replace the Ariane 5 around 2025. The European launch community says the changing market calls for a new vehicle sized more closely to fit government requirements and designed so that commercial launch needs are not central to its sustainability. The objective, Dordain says, is to arrive at the next ministerial summit in 2011 with a firm definition proposal for the new booster, known in ESA parlance as the New Generation Launcher (NGL) but commonly called the Ariane 6. Valerie Pecresse, the minister in charge of space, says the bond issue will provide €250 million ($360 million) to begin definition of the Ariane 6, which is expected to cost €3.5 billion to €8 billion to develop.

40 years ago

16 January 1970
The Soviet Union launched a Kosmos booster from Kapustin Yar carrying, Cosmos 320 an 826lb technology spacecraft to aid the development of aerodynamic systems for stabilisation and orientation. The satellite also carried a military optical experiment.

20 January

The Soviet Union launched a Kosmos 2 booster from Plesestk carrying Cosmos 321, magnetosphere research satellite into a 71deg inclination orbit to study the magnetic poles.

13-15 January (15 January 2010)

Russian cosmonauts Maxim Sureae and Oleg Kotov made a 5hr 50min long EVA from the International Space Station’s Pirs module on 14th to configure cables, antennas and docking targets.

Wallace Gregson, the a senior US assistant voiced dounts about China’s insistence that is using space for peaceful uses only. China's air force commander told state media last year that militarisation of space was an "historical inevitability." China in 2007 became the third nation after the United States and the former Soviet Union to conduct a "Star Wars" test shooting down one of its own satellites.

Russia plans to develop a nuclear-propelled spacecraft to fly to Mars and the outer solar system. The design stage will be completed in 2012 and $580 million will be needed for the next decade.

Roscosmos has signed a decree to reserve land in the Amur Province for the construction of the Vostochny spaceport. The first launch will be in 2015 and a “space shuttle” will be launched in 2018. However, the main cosmodrome at Baikonur will continue to be rented from Kazakhstan until 2015.

The third launch pad at ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India will be used to operate a Reusable Launch Vehicle, leading to a manned space shuttle. A landing strip at Sriharikota in planned.

40 years ago

14 January 1970
The US Air Force/NRO launched a Titan 3B booster from Vandenberg AFB, California carrying a KH-8 surveillance satellite into a 83-237 mile orbit with an 110deg inclination orbit with a recoverable film capsule.

15 January
A Thor Delta M booster was launched from Cape Canaveral carrying the 654lb Intelsat 3 F-6 into a GEO orbit.

The Soviet Union launched a Kosmos 2 booster from Plesetsk carrying Cosmos 319, a 550lb military target satellite.

5-12 January (12 January 2010)

NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour STS 130 has been moved to Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Centre for its launch to the International Space Station no earlier that 7 February. It might be delayed due to complications with a payload.

United Launch Alliance will launch a Delta IV booster from Capec Canaveral between December 2010 to February 2012 carrying the Wideband Global Satcom 4 WGS satellite.

The European Union has awarded a series of contracts for the Galileo navigation system worth $1,501 million dollars for the initial set of 14 satellites to be built by OHB System and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, beating a bid by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. Arianespace has been awarded a contract $397 million for 10 launches of two satellites each aboard five Soyuz rockets. Thales Alenia Space has won a $122 contract for support services. The first launches will be made 2012, will all the launches completed by 2014. However, the initial contracts fall short of the 24 satellites need for the global navigation services. Ground infrastructure and operations contracts wil be awarded in the summer.

NASA is evaluating a potential manned mission to the 1999 AO1O Near Earth Object as early as 2025 as a part of options from future manned spaceflight as a testbed for a manned flight to Mars.

Russia plans to launch a spacecraft in 2010 including four manned Soyuz TMA flights to the International Space Station and six Progress tankers. A new generation manned spacecraft carrying six astronauts launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Amur region. Russia also plans to fly MIM 1 experiment module called Twilight this year aboard a Space Shuttle mission in May 2010 with a suite of science experiments including studies of biotechnology and hydrology.

India plans to launch its second moon craft in 2013 to soft-land on the moon to make chemical, mineralogical and photo geologic mapping.

The US Air Force has selected the Delta 4 to launch the fourth Wideband Global Satcom satellite in December 2011 to February 2012.

Lew Allen, the former director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1982-1990 died on 4 January aged, 84.

Virgin Galactic will launch the world’s first commercial spaceship later this year.

Space-X has tested the kerosene second stage engine of the Falcon 6 engine at the company’s McGregor, Texas test facility for five and a half minutes, for the final stage firing before the engine will be despatched to Cape Canaveral Complex 40. The first stage testing was completed in October 2009. The launch is planned for 9 February but could be delayed to March. The payload will be a stripped-down Dragon capsule being developed to ferry cargo to the International Space Station. A second Falcon 9 will be launched in the summer with a fully equipped Dragon spacecraft.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour STS 130 will be launched on 7 February with a new connecting module and a giant bay window at the International Space Station. Discovery STS 131 will be launched in March. STS 132 Atlantis will be launched in May carrying the Russian Mini-Research Module. STS 133 Endeavour will be launched on July 29. STS 134 Discovery will be the final Space Shuttle mission on 16 September carrying a seven-ton spectrometer.

NASA's Kepler space telescope, designed to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars, has discovered its first five new exoplanets or planets named Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b and 8b.

40 years ago
9 January 1970
The Soviet Union launched Cosmos 318 carrying a 13,200lb Zenit 2M reconnaissance satellite with a recoverable film caspsule.

10 January
Cosmonaut Pavel Belyayev died after complications during surgery for stomach ulcers. Belyayev was the commander of Voskhod 2 which was launched on 18 March 1965 with co-pilot Alexei Leonov who became the first space traveller to make a spacewalk lasting 12min 9secs.

22 December-4 January (4 January 2010)

Oleg Kotov, Tim Creamer and Soichi Noguchi docked with the International Space Station aboard Soyuz TMA-17 on 22 December, joining Jeff Williams and Maxim Suraev.

British company Avanti has secured US $310 million financing for a second Hylas satellite to be built by Orbital Sciences to be launched by either an Ariane 5 or a Soyuz booster in 2012. The first Ka-band satellite is planned for launch 2010.

Only 20% of the 12,00 artificial objects in space are operational in space, says the Indian space agency, ISRO.

India plans to launch its Chandrayan 2 spacecraft in 2013 carrying two moon rovers. A third spacecraft will be launched in 2015.

The European Space Agency plans to develop a cryogenic new upper stage, Vinci for the Ariane 5 with an initial $200 million contract. The first flight will be a 2017. The engine will be built by Astrium and will replace the upper stage MH7B used first on the Ariane 4.

International Launch Services, ILS launched DirectTV 12 aboard a Russian Proton from Baikonur on 29 December on the seventh ILS flight of the year and the 56th ILS Proton launch. The satellite is based on a Boeing 702 spacecraft bus.

NASA’s next medium class New Frontier mission will fly either to land on Venus or return materials from the moon or an asteroid. The mission will be chosen in 2011 and the will be launched in 2018 at a cost of $650 million.

China plans to launch a second lunar orbiter, lunar landing craft in 2013 with a lunar rover and lunar sample return flights by 2017. A new Long March 5 will be launched in 2011 carrying 25 ton payloads. A Long March 6 is also planned. New rocket engines are planned and a new manned spacecraft. No manned spaceflights are planned in 2010. An initial 20 tonne space station is planned that will grow three time more. An unmanned Shenzhou 8 and a free flying Tiangong 1mission in planned. A Pegasus-like air-dropped rocket is planned which might have military uses. A 2,000lb X-ray Hard X-Ray Modulation Telescope is planned.

NASA has selection of three proposals for missions to the Moon, Venus, and an asteroid for further study. The three concepts are finalists for the next New Frontiers mission, NASA's program for medium-class planetary science missions. The SAGE mission would send a probe through the atmosphere of Venus and land on its surface. Osiris-Rex would rendezvous with an asteroid and collect samples for return to Earth. The MoonRise spacecraft would land in the South Pole-Aitken Basin of the Moon and return to Earth with samples from that region. The three proposals will each get approximately $3.3 million from NASA for additional concept studies in 2010, with a final selection planned for mid-2011; the winning mission would launch no later than the end of 2018. The winning mission will be NASA's third New Frontiers mission, after the New Horizons mission current en route to Pluto and the Juno Jupiter orbiter mission, scheduled for launch in 2011.

After 29 years of Space Shuttle flights, NASA plans to wrap up the program with five missions to complete construction of the International Space Station and retire the fleet before the end of 2010. The first shuttle mission of the year, scheduled for launch in February, will be devoted to delivering the last U.S.-owned module to the outpost. The connecting node, named Tranquility, will serve as crew quarters for four of the station astronauts, with two more crew sleeping berths located in the Russian service module. Shuttle Endeavour also is scheduled to deliver a unique viewing dome called the cupola. The Italian-built pod has seven windows to give station residents a 360-degree view outside so they can oversee spacewalks and robotics operations, look at Earth and star-gaze. In March, NASA plans to launch shuttle Discovery with tons of spare parts that will keep the station operational through at least 2015 and most likely to 2020 and beyond. In May, shuttle Atlantis will make its final flight, carrying a Russian-made docking port and research module. Endeavour's swan song in July will be devoted to delivering a pallet of spare parts and a particle physics experiment known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) has been awarded a contract from OverHorizon to build a communications satellite to be launched in 2012. The satellite’s payload is provided by Thales Alenia. With the OverHorizons contract, Orbital has received orders for a total of 30 GEO communications from customers around the world since 2001. Including the OverHorizons spacecraft, Orbital currently has ten GEO satellites in various stages of design, manufacturing, testing and pre-launch preparations.

Space Systems/Loral has been awarded a contract to build EchoStar XVI which will be launched in 2012. The contract was the 7th satellite awarded to SS/L in 2009. The spacecraft will be based on an SS/L 1300 satellite bus. SS/L has also been awarded a contract to build a Canada Telesat satellite, Nimiq 6 based on a 1300 series bus with 32 Lu band transponders.

Buoyed by the success of the Hubble Space Telescope, one of the key proposals on NASA’s internal interpretation of the Augustine Commission’s “Flexible Path” option includes a 45 day manned mission to construct a giant telescope in Geostationary orbit (GEO). A huge deep space telescope is also included in the roadmap, which would focus on a major advancement for the search of Earth-like planets. The presentation covers several areas, from the need for a heavy lift launcher, to manned missions to Mars and its moons and also Near Earth Objects (NEOs), as the main elements. A large section is also dedicated to the construction of large telescopes, with examples citing locations in LEO, GEO and in deep space.

Vietnam plans to launch it’s second communications satellite, Vinasat 2 casting in the range of $290-359 million.

NASA has offered museums a Space Shuttle after the final launches in 2010 for about $6 million. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum has been guaranteed the Space Shuttle Discovery. There it will join other legendary space vehicles such as the Apollo 11 Lunar Module .

50 years ago
21 January 1960
NASA launched a Little Joe 1 rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia, carrying a Mercury capsule with a rhesus monkey, Miss Sam to an altitude of 8 miles to test the Mercury escape tower system.

40 years ago

22 December 1969
The Soviet Union launched a Cosmos 3 booster from Plesetsk with an ionosphere satellite but the launch failed.

23 December
The Soviet Union launched a 1,400kg mass model ASAT payload, Cosmos 316 into a 49deg inclination and six pieces of the spacecraft were found in five locations In Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

The Soviet Union launched Cosmos 317 aboard Voskhod booster from Plesetsk into a 65deg inclination orbut carrying a Zenit recoverable high resolution photo reconnaissance capsule.

25 December
The Soviet Union launched a Kosmos 2 booster from Kapustin Yar carrying a 700lb ionosphere satellite into a 48deg inclination satellite.

27 December
The Soviet Union launched a Kosmos 3 booster from Plesetsk carrying an ionosphere satellite which also failed after the 22 December abort.