Jonathan's Space Report
No. 394 1999 Apr 8 Cambridge, MA
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Human spaceflight
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Progress M-41 was launched on Apr 2. The automatic cargo ship, based on
the Soyuz spaceship, docked with the Mir complex two days later. A
Soyuz-U (11A511U) launch vehicle placed it in a 51.6 degree parking
orbit, and the onboard engines were used to carry out the rendezvous
sequence.
The Spacehab/Oceaneering SHOSS box on STS-96 mentioned in the last
report is a refrigerator/freezer unit for the Space Station. STS-96 is
once again scheduled for May 20. STS-96's external tank, ET-100, has
been connected to the solid rocket boosters. The STS-101 flight to the
station has now apparently been delayed to Dec 2.
Tests of the solar panel deployment mechanism on the Chandra
X-ray Observatory went well, and fuelling of the spacecraft's
propulsion system is imminent.
Recent Launches
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Arianespace launched mission V117 on Apr 2, an Ariane 42P
vehicle carrying an Indian communications satellite.
ISRO's Insat 2E was placed in geostationary transfer orbit.
The Insat 2 series are built in India and carry a C and S band
communications package.
The Sea Launch Blok DM-SL made a small separation burn
after deploying DemoSat. The DM-SL doesn't make a large
lifetime reduction burn as I suggested last week.
Table of Recent Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Mar 5 0256 WIRE Pegasus XL Vandenberg Astronomy 11A
Mar 15 0306 Globalstar M022 ) Soyuz-U/Ikar Baykonur LC1 Comsat 12A
Globalstar M041 ) Comsat 12B
Globalstar M046 ) Comsat 12C
Globalstar M037 ) Comsat 12D
Mar 21 0009 Asiasat 3S Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur LC81L Comsat 13A
Mar 28 0130 DemoSat Zenit-3SL Odyssey, POR Test 14A
Apr 2 1128 Progress M-41 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 15A
Apr 2 2203 Insat 2E Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 16A
Current Shuttle Processing Status
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Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due
OV-102 Columbia VAB Bay 2 STS-93 Jul 9
OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 1 STS-96 May 20
OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-101 Dec 2
OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 2 STS-99 Sep 16
MLP1/RSRM-69/ET-99 VAB Bay 1 STS-93
MLP2/RSRM-70/ET-100 VAB Bay 3 STS-96
MLP3/
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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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