Jonathan's Space Report
No. 230 1995 Feb 11 Cambridge, MA
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Shuttle
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The STS-63 mission was completed successfully on Feb 11. Discovery
deployed the six ODERACS calibration objects on Feb 4 at 0457. Next, the
RMS arm was used to move Spartan-204 around the payload bay making
ultraviolet spectra of Shuttle glow (the interaction of the Orbiter with
the upper atmosphere) and reaction control jet firings. Spartan-204 was
unberthed at around 0600 on Feb 4 and reberthed on the Spartan Flight
Support Structure by around 1100 (?).
On Feb 6 at 1416, 1502 and 1637 UTC Discovery made the final burns in
the Mir rendezvous, arriving at 120m from Mir at about 1816 UTC. After
stationkeeping at that distance, the crew were given the go to proceed
in to a close approach (a leaky thruster had been shut off). The body of
the Shuttle was parallel to the core of the Mir station, with the bay
facing the Kristall module where Atlantis will dock in June. On the
STS-63 flight the Orbiter Docking System is replaced by a Spacehab
module and no docking was possible. The Shuttle began the approach at
1840 and at around 1929 UTC it reached a distance of 11m, measured from a
point on the roof of the Spacehab module to the Kristall docking port.
Discovery remained stationkeeping at the 11m distance for about 5
minutes, and then backed off to the 120m point again. It then carried
out a flyaround of the complex starting at 2016, and making a final
burn to end the rendezvous at around 2113.
On Feb 7 the RMS arm again unberthed the Spartan-204 satellite, and at
1226 Titov released it from the arm for a free flight to make UV
spectroscopic observations of the interstellar medium. The satellite was
retrieved at 1133 on Feb 9 and berthed shortly afterwards. Mission
Specialists Bernard Harris and Mike Foale depressurized the airlock at
1156 on Feb 9 and entered the payload bay from the hatch on the Tunnel
Adapter. They carried out a 15-minute cold soak test of their modified
Hamilton Standard EMU spacesuits; earlier EVA crews have had problems
with getting their hands too cold while in shadow. Next, Harris
practised moving the Spartan satellite around by hand to gain experience
for Space Station assembly tasks, but a second such exercise by Foale
was cancelled when the astronauts reported cold hands. The EVA ended
after 4h 39m at 1535 UT. Development of heated spacesuit gloves is
to be accelerated.
After closing the payload bay doors on Feb 11, Discovery's OMS engines
were fired at 1044 UT to deorbit the spaceship. OV-103 completed its
20th mission with main gear touchdown on Kennedy Space Center's
Runway 15 at 1150:19 UT on Feb 11, with wheels stop at 1150:39.
[Details I don't have yet: individual designations and deployment
order for the ODERACS satellites; actual timeline for unberth/reberth
of Spartan for the mass handling exercise].
Discovery's next mission will be in the summer, when Tom Henricks
will command a crew of five on a mission to deploy the TDRS-G
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite. This will follow the Astro-2
astronomy mission by Endeavour next month and the Mir docking
by Atlantis in June.
Launch of the next Progress tanker to Mir is expected in a few
days' time.
Recent Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Jan 10 0618 Intelsat 704 Atlas IIAS Canaveral LC36 Comsat 01A
Jan 15 1345 EXPRESS Mu-3S-II Kagoshima Materials -
Jan 24 0354 Tsikada ) Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Navsat 02A
ASTRID ) Science 02B
FAISAT ) Comsat 02C
Jan 25 1926? Apstar 2 Chang Zheng 2E Xichang Comsat FTO
Jan 29 0125 UHF F/O F4 Atlas II Canaveral LC36 Comsat 03A
Feb 3 0522 Discovery ) Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 04A
Spacehab SH03)
Feb 4 0457 ODERACS II ) Discovery, LEO Sphere 04
ODERACS II ) Sphere
ODERACS II ) Sphere
ODERACS II ) Wire
ODERACS II ) Wire
ODERACS II ) Wire
Feb 7 1226 Spartan 204 Discovery, LEO Astronomy 04H?
Reentries
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Jan 15 EXPRESS Reentered
Feb 11 Discovery Landed at KSC
Current Shuttle Processing Status
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Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due
OV-102 Columbia Palmdale OMDP -
OV-103 Discovery KSC RW15 STS-63
OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-71 Jun
OV-105 Endeavour VAB Bay 1 STS-67 Mar 2
ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks
ML1/ LC39B STS-63
ML2/RSRM-43/ET-69 VAB Bay 1 STS-67
ML3/ Refurb STS-71
Occasional Shuttle Processing Status Explanation (or, what are all these
acronyms anyway?):
The Shuttle consists of an Orbiter Vehicle (OV), an expendable External
Tank (ET), and a reusable pair of Redesigned Solid Rocket Motors (RSRM),
also known as Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The OV is prepared for
flight at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in the Orbiter Processing
Facility (OPF) which consists of three bays (one of which is actually a
separate building) after which it is towed to the Vehicle Assembly
Building (VAB) and `mated to the stack' or joined to the ET and RSRM.
First, the segments of the RSRM are stacked up on a Mobile Launch
Platform (ML) and then the ET is connected to it. After the OV is mated,
a Crawler-Transporter is moved underneath the ML and carries the
ML/RSRM/ET/OV stack to one of the two pads (A or B) at launch complex 39
(LC39) where it is eventually launched on a Space Transportation System
(STS) mission. The ML is then moved to the Refurb site before it goes
back to the VAB to become the base for another stack. The Orbiter
usually lands at either Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB) or KSC.
Occasionally an OV is returned to the Rockwell International plant in
Palmdale, California for refit - an Orbiter Maintenance Down Period or
OMDP. When the OV is moved from site to site it is carried aboard a
modified Boeing 747 called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft - there are two
of these, SCA 905 and SCA 911.
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| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | |
| Astrophysics | |
| 60 Garden St, MS4 | |
| Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu |
| USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu |
| |
| JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/jsr.html |
! ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* |
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