AF flight 14. Date estimated. References: 49 , 97 .

Maximum Speed - 5911 kph. Maximum Altitude - 32670 m. References: 38 , 49 , 97 .

At Seattle, five men began a 30-day engineering test of life support systems for a manned space station in The Boeing Company space chamber. The system, designed and built for NASA's Office of Advanced Research and Technology, was the nation's first to include all life-support equipment for a multimanned, long-duration space mission (including environmental control, waste disposal, and crew hygiene and food techniques). In addition to the life support equipment, a number of crew tests simulated specific problems of space flight. Five days later, however, the simulated mission was halted because of a faulty reactor tank.

North American recommended to MSC that, for the time being, the present method for landing the CM (i.e., a passive water landing) be maintained. However, on the basis of a recent feasibility study, the contractor urged that a rocket landing system be developed for possible use later on. North American said that such a system would improve mission reliability through the increase in impact capability on both land and water. References: 16 .

The first launch of the Proton launch vehicle was not without problems. A leak in the oxidiser pipeline resulted in nitrogen tetroxide spilling on electrical wires. The question was: proceed with the launch or abort? Chelomei decided to go ahead, and on 16 July 1965 the first UR-500 successfully launched the Proton 1 satellite. In the first hours after launch specialists from OKB-52 could only receive signals in the first hours that indicated the satellite was �alive�. However it later functioned normally and provided physics data on ultra-high-energy cosmic particles for 45 days.

At the first launch the rocket was called �Gerkules� (other sources say �Atlantis�), as indicated by the large symbol on the second stage skin. This name was however was not taken up. References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 67 , 273 , 274 .

Maximum Speed - 5442 kph. Maximum Altitude - 67510 m. References: 38 , 49 , 97 .

High resolution photo reconnaissance satellite; returned film capsule; also performed weather experiments. References: 1 , 2 , 6 .

First landing on moon. Apollo 11 (AS-506) - with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., aboard - was launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, KSC, at 9:32 a.m. EDT July 16. The activities during earth-orbit checkout, translunar injection, CSM transposition and docking, spacecraft ejection, and translunar coast were similar to those of Apollo 10.

At 4:40 p.m. EDT July 18, the crew began a 96-minute color television transmission of the CSM and LM interiors, CSM exterior, the earth, probe and drogue removal, spacecraft tunnel hatch opening, food preparation, and LM housekeeping. One scheduled and two unscheduled television broadcasts had been made previously by the Apollo 11 crew.

The spacecraft entered lunar orbit at 1:28 p.m. EDT on July 19. During the second lunar orbit a live color telecast of the lunar surface was made. A second service-propulsion-system burn placed the spacecraft in a circularized orbit, after which astronaut Aldrin entered the LM for two hours of housekeeping including a voice and telemetry test and an oxygen-purge-system check.

At 8:50 a.m. July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin reentered the LM and checked out all systems. They performed a maneuver at 1:11 p.m. to separate the LM from the CSM and began the descent to the moon. The LM touched down on the moon at 4:18 p.m. EDT July 20. Armstrong reported to mission control at MSC, "Houston, Tranquillity Base here - the Eagle has landed." (Eagle was the name given to the Apollo 11 LM; the CSM was named Columbia.) Man's first step on the moon was taken by Armstrong at 10:56 p.m. EDT. As he stepped onto the surface of the moon, Armstrong described the feat as "one small step for a man - one giant leap for mankind."

Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface of the moon at 11:15 p.m. July 20. The astronauts unveiled a plaque mounted on a strut of the LM and read to a worldwide TV audience, "Here men from the planet earth first set foot on the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." After raising the American flag and talking to President Nixon by radiotelephone, the two astronauts deployed the lunar surface experiments assigned to the mission and gathered 22 kilograms of samples of lunar soil and rocks. They then reentered the LM and closed the hatch at 1:11 a.m. July 21. All lunar extravehicular activities were televised in black-and-white. Meanwhile, Collins continued orbiting moon alone in CSM Columbia.

The Eagle lifted off from the moon at 1:54 p.m. EDT July 21, having spent 21 hours 36 minutes on the lunar surface. It docked with the CSM at 5:35 p.m. and the crew, with the lunar samples and film, transferred to the CSM. The LM ascent stage was jettisoned into lunar orbit. The crew then rested and prepared for the return trip to the earth.

The CSM was injected into a trajectory toward the earth at 12:55 a.m. EDT July 22. Following a midcourse correction at 4:01 p.m., an 18-minute color television transmission was made, in which the astronauts demonstrated the weightlessness of food and water and showed shots of the earth and the moon.

At 12:15 p.m. EDT July 24 the Apollo 11's command module Columbia splashed down in the mid-Pacific, about 24 kilometers from the recovery ship U.S.S. Hornet. Following decontamination procedures at the point of splashdown, the astronauts were carried by helicopter to the Hornet where they entered a mobile quarantine facility to begin a period of observation under strict quarantine conditions. The CM was recovered and removed to the quarantine facility. Sample containers and film were flown to Houston.

All primary mission objectives and all detailed test objectives of Apollo 11 were met, and all crew members remained in good health. Additional Details: Apollo 11. References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 16 , 26 , 27 , 33 , 60 .

Acquisition of meteorological information needed for use by the weather service. References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 .

Improved TIROS Operational System. References: 5 , 126 .

Upper atmospheric research. Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B). References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 .

Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 .

Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation. References: 1 , 2 , 6 .

Oceanographic. Acquisition of operational oceanographic information in the interests of various branches of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation. References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 .

First launch of new Chinese L/V; experimental Pakistani payload. References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 .

Delivered supplies to the crew of the Mir complex. Docked with the Kvant port at 17:53 GMT on July 18. Remained docked to the station after the departure of the last operational crew in September 1999. Undocked on February 2. 2000, to clear the port for Progress M1, at 0311:52 GMT. Deorbited over the Pacific later the same day at 0610:40 UTC with an 8 minute burn.

The first two European Space Agency Cluster II satellites, Samba (FM7) and Salsa (FM6) were launched into an initial 200 km / 64.8 deg circular orbit. The Fregat upper stage then burned once before ejecting the satellites into a 250 x 18072 km x 64.7 deg transfer orbit. Both satellites then used their Astrium (former MBB) S400 liquid engines in a series of four additional burns before reaching their final 16869 x 121098 km x 90.6 deg orbits. Each magnetosphere research satellite deployed four 50-meter wire antennas.