AF flight 6. Date estimated. References: 49 , 97 .

Gas composition research. Launched at 1412 local time. Reached 143 km.

Gas composition research. Launched at 0200 local time. Reached 5 km.

Council of Soviet Ministers (SM) Decree 'On approval of work on the R-5M missile and on establishment of OKB-586 at Dnepropetrovsk Plant No. 586' was issued. Sadoviy and Kozlov were named to lead the project. Based substantially on the R-5, it used the 8U25 launch portable launch stand. References: 474 .

AF flight 7. Date estimated. References: 49 , 97 .

Council of Soviet Ministers (SM) Decree 'On creation of Special Committee for Armaments of the Army and VMF (later VPK) of Council of Ministers to manage missile programs' was issued. References: 474 .

AF flight 8. Date estimated. References: 49 , 97 .

First launching of a three-stage rocket vehicle consisting of two Nike boosters in tandem and a Deacon rocket as a third stage, and also a first launching of a rocket booster system consisting of three "peelaway" Deacons as the first stage wrapped around a fourth Deacon as a second stage, and a HPAG rocket as a third stage, by NACA Langley's PARD at Wallops Island. References: 17 .

First launch of series production missile. References: 283 , 344 .

The NACA determined the characteristics of what later became the X-15 rocket aircraft, one of the steps to manned space flight. References: 483 .

Missile test failure. Missed aimpoint by 277,000 m. References: 439 .

Check power plant, controls, performance, and skill temperatures; upper-air pressure, density, winds, ionisation; cosmic rays; photography research. Launched at 1000 local time. Reached 219 km.

Rocket performance test. Launched at 0800 local time. Reached 98.2 km.

AF flight 9. Date estimated. References: 49 , 97 .

The Generator-S radiological warhead for the R-5 was developed in the early 1950's. In order to handle the warhead OKBT Kirov Factory built the shielded manipulator vehicle Objekt 805, which had a total mass of 72 tonnes. Following the demonstration the system was accepted by the military in 1955.

Council of Soviet Ministers (SM) Decree 956-4088s 'On approval of work on the R-7 ICBM, R-5R, and M5RD missiles' was issued. References: 474 .

Council of Soviet Ministers (SM) Decree 957-409 'On transfer of intercontinental cruise missile work to the Ministry of Aviation Industry' was issued. Korolev had to place the highest priority on development of the R-7 ICBM. Therefore the final government decree authorised the Lavochkin and Myasishchev aircraft design bureaux to proceed in parallel with full-scale development of trisonic intercontinental cruise missiles. Both missiles would use ramjet engines by Bondaryuk, astronavigation systems by R Chachikyan, inertial navigation systems by G Tolstoysov, and aerodynamics developed by TsAGI (Central Hydrodynamics Institute). Lavochkin's Burya would use rocket booster engines built by Glushko, while Myasishchev's Buran would use Isayev engines. Both missiles were to deliver a nuclear warhead over an 8,500 km range. But the warhead design specified for the Lavochkin missile had a total mass of 2,100 kg, while that for the Myasishchev missile weighed 3,500 kg. References: 474 .

Re-entry nose-cone heat transfer experiment; photography research. Launched at 1000 local time. Reached 254 km.

The technological basis was the N-3 project, which covered various engine and propulsion approaches. In 1955 a unit was formed within Tikhonravov's section of OKB-1 to develop the first satellite; this included Feoktistov, Bazhinov, Maksimov, and Soldatora.

AF flight 10. X-1A attained 26564 m, un-official world altitude record for manned aircraft. References: 49 , 97 .

Council of Chief designers approval to proceed with development of R-7. References: 89 .

10th and last launch in production missile series, 8 successes References: 283 , 344 .

Rocket performance test. Launched at 0910 local time. Reached 93.4 km.

AF flight 11. X-1A reached 27374 m. Encountered same instability Yeager had, but at mach 1.97. Murray recovered after tumbling 6100 m down to 20130 m. References: 49 , 97 .

Ministry of Aviation Industry (MAP) Decree 'On establishment of Special Design Group 10 at Plant No. 500 at Tushino under V. N. Chelomei' was issued. References: 474 .

AF flight 12. Date estimated. References: 49 , 97 .

In a meeting, Dr. Wernher von Braun, Frederick C. Durant III, Alexander Satin, David Young, Dr. Fred L. Whipple, Dr. S. Fred Singer, and Commander George W. Hoover agreed that a Redstone rocket with a Loki cluster as the second stage could launch a satellite into a 200-mile orbit without major new developments. This became a joint Army-Navy study project after meeting at Redstone Arsenal on August 3. Project Orbiter was a later outgrowth of this proposal and resulted in the launching of Explorer I on January 31, 1958. References: 483 .

Council of Soviet Ministers (SM) Decree 'On NIP Plan for Special Product--course of work on the R-7 ICBM' was issued. References: 474 .