Jonathan's Space Report
No. 365 1998 Jul 3 Cambridge, MA
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Shuttle and Mir
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The next Shuttle mission is STS-95, in October. Talgat Musabaev and
Nikolai Budarin are continuing work aboard the Mir complex.
AXAF
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The STS-93 crew visited the AXAF Operations Control Center in Cambridge,
Mass. on Jun 25. STS-93 commander Eileen Collins drew attention to the
fact that AXAF deployment is scheduled for the first mission day, when
cremembers are still adjusting to free fall, and that the AXAF mission
will be the heaviest Shuttle launch weight ever, with a center of
gravity well to the rear of the payload bay. Pilot Jeff Ashby, a Navy
Gulf War veteran, will be on his first mission. Steve Hawley is the most
experienced crew member; he's the only astronomer aboard so many in the
audience felt a strong sense of identification with him. He will be the
mission flight engineer. Cady Coleman, whose MIT and UMass background
were critical in navigating the crew from Hanscom AFB to the control
center, will be in charge of AXAF/IUS deployment. She will be backed
up by Michel Tognini, a French astronaut who is a veteran of a 1992
Mir visit. Tognini is also prime EVA crewmember for the flight, in
case an emergency (`contingency') spacewalk were needed. This would
be particularly tricky since AXAF fills the whole payload bay, with
the delicate science instrument module pretty close to the airlock
door.
Recent Launches
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The Planet-B probe to Mars was launched on Jul 3. The ISAS M-5 launch
vehicle took off from Kagoshima space center in Japan and placed
Planet-B in parking orbit. After lunar flybys, Planet-B will
be placed in solar orbit and reach Mars in Oct 1999. It carries
instruments to study the Martian ionosphere and plasma environment
from Mars orbit. I don't have many details of the launch yet, but
I hope to know more by next issue.
Kosmos-2358, launched on Jun 24, is a Yantar'-class spy satellite,
probably in the Kobal't series. It consists of an instrument-aggregate
module which has some design heritage in common with the Soyuz service
module, together with a large reentry vehicle containing the camera
system, and probably at least two small reentry capsules which return
film during the mission, expected to last about three months. The
Yantar' series are built by the TsSKB-Progress enterprise in Samara,
Russia, which also built the 11A511U "Soyuz-U" launch vehicle. The low
perigee, 67 degree inclination orbit used by Kosmos-2358 is
characteristic of the high resolution recoverable Yantar' satellites.
Kosmos-2359, launched on Jun 25, is another recon satellite launched by
Soyuz-U and built by TsSKB-Progress. It entered a 170 x 290 km x 64.9
deg initial orbit typical of the Kosmos-2031 class, thought to be a
further development of the Yantar' series with multiple small return
capsules and no main recoverable section. It will probably maneuver to a
205 x 320 km orbit on Jun 26.
A Molniya-3 communications satellite was launched on Jul 1 into an
elliptical 62.8 degree orbit. The Molniya satellites are built by NPO
PM; the Molniya-M (8K78M) launch vehicle is built by TsSKB-Progress and
is similar to the Soyuz-U but with a 'Blok ML' fourth stage.
The SOHO solar observatory, orbiting the Earth-Sun L1 point, has been
lost due to an apparent gyroscope problem. No contact has been made with
the satellite since Jun 25. Attempts to resume contact with the
satellite continue, but it looks bad for the very successful SOHO
satellite.
Proton Launch Vehicle
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Issue 1998 No. 10 of the Russian magazine Novosti Kosmonavtiki
(published by Videocosmos, icosmos@dol.ru) contains a complete listing
of launches of the Proton launch vehicle, including such details as
launch times, pads, and even payload serial numbers.
Some teasing highlights from the
Proton launch list to give you a flavor:
- Kosmos-382, the orbital test of the lunar Soyuz, was L1-E No. 2K,
launched at 1700:00 UTC 1970 Dec 2 from pad 81L by Proton No. 252-01
with Blok D No. 26.
- Kosmos-637, Russia's first 24-hour satellite, was a GVM (mass mockup)
of the 11F638 Raduga satellite, military name Gran', launched by Proton
282-01 from pad 81L.
- Satellite N-4 No. 3 (would have been Proton-3) launched by Proton 211
in Mar 1966, failed to orbit due to second stage failure.
- Kosmos-2291 is comsat Geizer No. 19L, launched by Proton 381-02.
If you haven't been following the details of the USSR space program
since its glory days, trust me that it's amazing to see this level of
detail about stuff we spent years guessing about. I'll be updating the
geostationary satellite log soon to reflect the correct names of the
Russian geostationary satellites.
For score counters, the following satellites are not fully identified in
the Proton list and may be presumed to be still classified: Kosmos-775;
Kosmos-1546, 1894, 1940, 2133, 2155, 2209, 2224, 2282, 2345, 2350 (all
thought to be early warning sats); Raduga-1 satellites; Luch-1, and
also Kosmos-1603, Kosmos-1656 (identified as Tselina-2 but no serial
nos.) In addition, serial numbers for the Kosmos-997/998 reentry tests
are not given.
Table of Recent Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Jun 2 2206 Discovery ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 34A
Spacehab )
Jun 10 0035 Thor 3 Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17A Comsat 35A
Jun 15 2258 Kosmos-2352 ) Tsiklon-3 Plesetsk LC32 Comsat 36A
Kosmos-2353 ) Comsat 36B
Kosmos-2354 ) Comsat 36C
Kosmos-2355 ) Comsat 36D
Kosmos-2356 ) Comsat 36E
Kosmos-2357 ) Comsat 36F
Jun 18 2248 Intelsat 805 Atlas 2AS Canaveral LC36A Comsat 37A
Jun 24 1830 Kosmos-2358 Soyuz-U Plesetsk Recon 38A
Jun 25 1400 Kosmos-2359 Soyuz-U Baykonur Recon 39A
Jul 1 Molniya-3 Molniya-M Plesetsk Comsat 40A
Jul 3 1812 Planet B M-5 Kagoshima Mars probe
Current Shuttle Processing Status
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Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due
OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-93 Unknown
OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-95 Oct 29
OV-104 Atlantis Palmdale OMDP
OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-88 Unknown
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| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | |
| Astrophysics | |
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| USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu |
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