Jonathan's Space Report

Jun 15, 1989 (no. 18)

Hello again girls and boys, I'm semi-back! We still dont have the usenet
back after our system upgrade, so I'm asking a friend to post this.  I
wont see the net for another week or so, so email me questions rather
than post them. 
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OV-102 Columbia due to be moved to the VAB on Jun 29

Launches: I'll be chronological for a change...

USA-37, launched May 10 by Titan 34D/Transtage, is a Vortex telemetry
intelligence satellite according to AvLeak, rather than a pair of
comsats as reported earlier.  It is now in geostationary orbit. 

Kosmos-2020, launched May 17 by RN Soyuz from Baykonur, is a GRU recon
satellite expected to remain in orbit until mid-July.

Kosmos-2021, launched May 24 by RN Soyuz from Plesetsk, is another GRU
recon satellite, probably a Vostok-class payload, and probably landed
around Jun 7.  Meanwhile, Kosmos-2019 landed on May 18 after a 13 day
flight. 

The first Resurs-F satellite, launched May 25 also by RN Soyuz from
Plesetsk, is another Vostok-class payload, this time for earth resources
photography.  The data is used by the 'Priroda' center.  Other
satellites in the same series have flown under the Kosmos name, like
Kosmos-2000 earlier this year; civilian applications are slowly being
declassified and removed from the Kosmos series. 

Pravda reports that two separable 'Pion' air density research
subsatellites were carried into orbit with Resurs-F.  The satellites,
built by students at the Korolev Aviation Institute in Kubyshev, have
not yet been catalogued by NORAD. 

Three GLONASS navigation satellites, Kosmos-2022,2023,2024, were
launched on May 31 by RN Proton from Baykonur into 19000 km orbits. 

Yet another recon satellite, Kosmos-2025, orbited Jun 1 from Plesetsk;
no details yet on Kosmos-2026 launched Jun 7.

The first launch of the 44L version of Ariane 4 was successful on Jun 5.
The payloads were Superbird 1, a commercial Japanese comsat, and 
Kopernikus/DFS, a West German TV (Deutsche FernSehen) satellite.

Jun 8 saw the launch of the 38th Molniya-3 satellite by RN Molniya
from Plesetsk, into a 12 hour elliptical orbit.

The second Delta II launch finally got off the ground on Jun 10,
from pad 17 at Cape Canaveral, placing a USAF Navstar navigation
satellite (USA-38) in orbit.

Finally, on Jun 14 the first Titan IV was launched from pad 41 at
Cape Canaveral, carrying the first of a new generation of early
warning satellites toward geostationary orbit.



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