Jonathan's Space Report No. 107 1992 Mar 25 I'm starting to do an email distribitution of this report. If you'd like to be on the list, please let me know. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Flight readiness firing (FRF) of Endeavour on pad 39B is due on April 6 prior to preparations for mission STS-49. The Hughes Communications cable TV relay satellite Galaxy V was launched by Atlas I Centaur AC-72 at 0000 UTC on Mar 14 from Canaveral. The satellite uses an HS-376 class bus. A Nadezhda class navigation satellite, Kosmos-2181, was launched from Plesetsk on Mar 9 around 2230UT. It has been placed in the same orbital plane as Nadezhda(1). The launch of Optus Communications' Aussat B1 satellite on a Chinese Chang Zheng 2E launch vehicle has been postponed. A launch attempt last week was scrubbed when the first stage automatically shut down during ignition. The rocket did not leave the launch pad; it's what in Shuttle lingo would be called an RSLS abort, like the first time they tried to launch Discovery in 1984. (I only mention this because some of the press coverage talks about a 'launch failure', which in my book means a launch that occurs and fails, not one that fails to occur). Orbiter 104 Atlantis is in Earth orbit following launch from pad 39A at KSC at 1313.39UTC on Mar 24. The STS-45 main payload consists of the Atlas-1 Spacelab mission. This is the mission that used to be known as EOM-1, and was scheduled for mission 61-K prior to the Challenger accident; it is the last of the delayed fiscal 1986 missions to fly, six years late. Below is a table of the 61- and 62- series of missions as on the manifest in Jan 1986 (61-D, which was cancelled in 1985, eventually was ressurrected and flew as STS-40/SLS-1 in 1991). Mission Payload Actual Mission 61-D Spacelab 4 -> STS 40, 1991 61-E Astro-1 -> STS 35, 1990 61-F Ulysses -> STS 41, 1990 61-G Galileo -> STS 34, 1989 61-H Westar, Palapa,Skynet Cancelled [Payloads to Delta 182, 1987; Comm.Titan 1, 1990; and Ariane V39, 1990] 61-I Insat, LDEF-1R -> STS 32R, 1990 [Insat to Ariane V24,1988] 61-J HST -> STS 31R, 1990 61-K Spacelab EOM1/2 -> STS 45, 1992 61-L Gstar 3/Syncom 5 Cancelled, payloads to Ariane V25, 1987 and STS 32R, 1990 61-M TDRS-IUS/PAM -> STS 29R, 1989 61-N DoD -> STS 33R, 1989 (?) 62-A Teal Ruby/Cirris -> STS 39, 1991 [Teal Ruby cancelled] 62-B DoD -> STS 27R, 1988 The Progress M-11 cargo ship undocked from Mir's front port on Mar 13 and was deorbited over the Pacific the same day. Mir crew Aleksandr Volkov and Sergey Krikalyov undocked from the Kvant rear port on Mar 14 in Soyuz TM-13 and redocked about an hour later at the Mir front port. On Mar 17 at 0854 UTC a Soyuz launch vehicle left Baykonur carrying NPO Energiya's Soyuz TM-14 spaceship into orbit. Crew are Aleksandr Viktorenko and Aleksandr Kaleri of Russia and Klaus-Dietrich Flade of Germany. They docked at the Kvant rear port at 1233 UTC on Mar 19. On Mar 25, Volkov, Krikalyov and Flade undocked from the front port in Soyuz TM-13 and landed in Kazakhstan at 0851 UTC on Mar 25. This leaves Viktorenko and Kaleri aboard the Mir/Kvant/Kvant-2/Kristall/Soyuz TM-14 complex. Krikalyov's flight was the third longest ever, at 311 days 20 hours 1 min, and he and Volkov hold second and fourth place in the cumulative spaceflight experience rankings (Musa Manarov has 541 days, Krikalyov has 463 days, Yuri Romanenko has 430 days, and Volkov has 391 days). Biographical details of the new and old crews: Viktorenko, Aleksandr Stepanovich: Birth: 1947 Mar 29, in Kazakhstan Rank: Polkovnik VVS (Col. in Air Force) Selected as Air Force cosmonaut, 1978 Backup Komandir, Soyuz T-14, 1985 Backup Komandir, Soyuz T-15, 1986 Komandir, Soyuz TM-3/Mir, 1987 Backup Komandir, Soyuz TM-7, 1988 Komandir, Soyuz TM-8/Mir, 1989-1990 Backup Komandir, Soyuz TM-13, 1991 Komandir, Soyuz TM-14/Mir, 1992 Total spaceflight hours 4389:09 at Mar 17.0; 3 rendezvous/dockings EVA hours 17:36 in 5 EVAs Kaleri, Aleksandr Yurievich: Birth: 1956 May 13, in Latviju (Latvia) Selected as NPO Energiya cosmonaut, 1985 Backup Bortinzhener, Soyuz TM-4, 1987 Trained as Bortinzhener, Soyuz TM-7, but grounded 1988 Backup Bortinzhener, Soyuz TM-12, 1991 Trained as Bortinzhener, Soyuz TM-13, but replaced by Kazakh, 1991 Bortinzhener, Soyuz TM-14/Mir, 1992 Total spaceflight hours 207:06 at Mar 26.0 Volkov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Birth: 1948 Apr 27, in Ukraine Rank: Polkovnik VVS (Col. in Air Force) Selected as Air Force cosmonaut, 1976 Kosmonavt-issledovatel', Soyuz T-14/Salyut-7, 1985 Backup Komandir, Soyuz TM-4, 1987 Komandir, Soyuz TM-7/Mir, 1988-1989 Backup Komandir, Soyuz TM-12, 1991 Komandir, Soyuz TM-13/Mir, 1991-1992 Total spaceflight hours 9395:54; 2 rendezvous, 4 dockings EVA hours 10:10 in 2 EVAs Krikalyov, Sergey Konstantinovich Birth: 1958 Aug 27, in Rossiya (Russia) Selected as NPO Energiya cosmonaut, 1985 Bortinzhener, Soyuz TM-7/Mir, 1988-1989 Backup Bortinzhener, Soyuz TM-11, 1990 Bortinzhener, Soyuz TM-12/Mir, 1991-1992 Total spaceflight hours 11119:11 EVA hours 36:30 in 7 EVAs Flade, Klaus Dietrich Birth: 1953?, in Deutschland (Germany) (?) Selected as DLR astronaut candidate, 1990 Kosmonavt-issledovatel', Soyuz TM-14/Mir, 1992 Total spaceflight hours 191:57 More bio details would be welcome if anyone knows them! Biographical details of STS-45 crew: Bolden, Charles Frank, Jr Birth: 1946 Aug 19, S Carolina Rank: Col. USMC Selected as NASA pilot astronaut, 1980 Pilot, Columbia, mission 61-C, 1986 Pilot, Discovery, mission STS-31R, 1990 Commander, Atlantis, mission STS-45, 1992 Total spaceflight hours 305:06 at Mar 26.0 Duffy, Brian Birth: 1953 Jun 20, Massachusetts Rank: Lt Col USAF. Selected as NASA pilot astronaut, 1984 Pilot, Atlantis, mission STS-45, 1992 Training as Pilot, mission STS-57 Total spaceflight hours 34:47 at Mar 26.0 Sullivan, Kathryn Dwyer Birth: 1951 Oct 3, New Jersey Education: Ph.D. in geology, 1978 Selected as NASA mission specialist astronaut, 1978 Mission Specialist 2, Challenger, mission 41-G, 1984 Mission Specialist 3, Discovery, mission STS-31R, 1990 Payload Commander, Atlantis, mission STS-45, 1992 Total spaceflight hours 353:27 at Mar 26.0; EVA hours 3:29 in 1 EVA Leestma, David Cornell Birth: 1949 May 6, Michigan Rank: LtCdr USN Selected as NASA mission specialist astronaut,1980 Mission Specialist 3, Challenger, mission 41-G, 1984. Mission Specialist 1, Columbia, mission STS-28R, 1989. Mission Specialist 2, Atlantis, mission STS-45, 1992. Total spaceflight hours 353:11 at Mar 26.0; EVA hours 3:29 in 1 EVA Foale, C. Michael Birth: 1957 Jan 6, England Education: Ph.D. in physics, Cambridge, 1982. Selected as NASA mission specialist astronaut, 1987 Mission Specialist 3, Atlantis, mission STS-45, 1992 Training as MS, STS-56 Total spaceflight hours 34:47 at Mar 26.0 Frimout, Dirk D. Birth: 1941? in Belgique (Belgium) Education: Ph.D. in physics, Ghent, 1970. Selected as ESA Atlas payload specialist candidate, 1985 Payload Specialist 1, Atlantis/Atlas-1, mission STS-45, 1992 Total spaceflight hours 34:47 at Mar 26.0 Lichtenberg, Byron Kurt Birth: 1948 Feb 19, Pennsylvania Education: Ph.D. in biomechanical engineering, MIT, 1979 Selected as Spacelab payload specialist, 1977 Payload Specialist, Columbia/Spacelab-1, mission STS-9, 1983. (MIT) Payload Specialist 2, Atlantis/Atlas-1, mission STS-45, 1992 (Payload Systems, Inc). Total spaceflight hours 282:34 at Mar 26.0 Atlantis pilot Brian Duffy is the last surviving member of the 1985 astronaut group to make their first flight (Stephen Thorne was killed in a plane crash while a trainee). ____________________________________________ |Current STS status: | |Orbiters Location Mission | | | |OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-50 | |OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 Mod | |OV-104 Atlantis LEO STS-45 | |OV-105 Endeavour LC39B FRF | | | |ML/ET/SRB stacks | | | |ML1/ LC39A | |ML2/STS-49/ET/OV-105 LC39B | |ML3/STS-50 VAB Bay 3 | -------------------------------------------- .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'