Jonathan's Space Report
No. 299 1996 Sep 11 Cambridge, MA
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Shuttle and Mir
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NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid is preparing to come home after the longest
space flight by a US citizen. Atlantis was launched on mission STS-79 at
0854:49 UTC on Sep 16. The replaced RSRM-56 solid rocket boosters
operated just fine and separated at 0857 UTC, although we'll have to
wait till they get towed home to know if there was any gas blowby. MECO
(Main Engine Cutoff) came at 0903 UTC, followed by external tank ET-81
separation with Atlantis in a 82 x 296 km x 51.6 deg orbit. The OMS 2
burn to raise orbit to 157 x 293 km was carried out at 0937 UTC, and the
payload bay doors were opened at 1015 UTC.
On Sep 19 Atlantis docked with the Mir complex. The crew reported 'tally
ho' (visual contact) at 0107 UTC, after the terminal burn at 0033 UTC.
By 0139 they were 3 km apart; twenty minutes later that distance had
dropped by a factor of ten. The crew closed in to 10 meters at 0303 UTC,
and carried out stationkeeping at that distance for a few minutes,
before closing in again for docking at 0313 UTC. The docking rings
retracted and brought the two vehicles together for `hard dock' at 0320
UTC. At 0540 the hatch was opened and Lucid, Korzun and Kaleri
were able to greet Blaha, Readdy, Wilcutt, Akers, Apt and Walz.
Aboard Atlantis in the payload bay are the Orbiter Docking System, the
modified Long Tunnel, and the Spacehab Double Module. The Spacehab has
supplies for the Mir station. Astronaut John Blaha will relieve Shannon
Lucid as NASA resident on the complex.
Recent Launches
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The launch profile of Inmarsat III F-2 satellite is still unclear.
Apparently it did not carry an apogee motor, and was placed directly in
geostationary orbit by the Blok-DM-1 upper stage. However, Space Command
have not yet tracked the stage. Inmarsat III F-2 is a Series 4000
satellite built by Lockheed Martin Telecommunications (formerly Astro
Space). It will serve the Atlantic Ocean region; Inmarsat III F-1 is
operating over the Indian Ocean. The Inmarsat satellites provide mobile
communications services at L-band, primarily for ships and aircraft.
A Navstar Block IIA GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation
satellite, SVN 30, was launched on Sep 12. The McDonnell Douglas Delta
7925 placed it in an elliptical transfer orbit, and the Star 37 apogee
motor fired to place it in a 12 hour orbit at 55 deg inclination. One
more GPS Block IIA satellite, SVN 38, remains to be launched. The Block
IIA satellites are built by Rockwell.
The first calibration reference sphere was ejected from the MSX
ballistic missile defence research satellite on Aug 24. Its
SPIRIT III solid-hydrogen cooled infrared telescope is operating
well.
Erratum: Kosmos-2333 was launched from GIK-5 Baykonur,
not GIK-1 Plesetsk. Sorry!
Erratum:
The Inmarsat III F-2 launch contract was directly with Krunichev and did not
involve International Launch Services. My apologies for the error.
Table of Recent Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Aug 8 2249 Italsat F2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 44A
Telecom 2D ) Comsat 44B
Aug 14 2221 Molniya-1T Molniya-M Plesetsk Comsat 45A
Aug 17 0153 ADEOS ) H-II Tanegashima Y Rem.sens. 46A
JAS-2 ) Comsat 46B
Aug 17 1318 Soyuz TM-24 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1? Spaceship 47A
Aug 18 1027 Zhongxing 7 Chang Zheng 3 Xichang Comsat 48A
Aug 21 0947 FAST Pegasus XL Vandenberg Auroral 49A
Aug 29 0522 Interbol-2 ) Molniya-M Plesetsk LC43 Auroral 50B
Magion 5 ) 50C
Microsat ) 50A
Sep 4 0901 Kosmos-2333 Zenit-2 Baykonur LC45L Sigint 51A
Sep 5 1347 Kosmos-2334 ) Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132/1 Navsat 52A
UNAMSat ) 52B
Sep 6 1737 Inmarsat III F2 Proton Baykonur LC81 Comsat 53A
Sep 8 2149 GE-1 Atlas IIA Canaveral LC36B Comsat 54A
Sep 11 0000 Echostar II Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 55A
Sep 12 0849 Navstar 30 Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17A Navsat 56A
Sep 16 0855 Atlantis Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 57A
Current Shuttle Processing Status
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Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due
OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 1 STS-80 Oct 31
OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-82 Feb 13
OV-104 Atlantis Mir STS-79
OV-105 Endeavour Palmdale OMDP
ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks
ML1/
ML2/RSRM-54 VAB Bay 1 STS-79 (old)
ML3/RSRM-49 VAB Bay 3 STS-80
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| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | |
| Astrophysics | |
| 60 Garden St, MS6 | |
| Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu |
| USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu |
| |
| JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html |
| Back issues: ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* |
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