Jonathan's Space Report No. 194 1994 May 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Editorial -------- I think I've added everyone who has requested it so far to the distribution list - let me know if you don't get this message :-) News is light this week. Shuttle ------- Endeavour departed Edwards AFB aboard the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft on Apr 29 and was flown to Biggs Army Airfield, El Paso, Texas. On Apr 30 the SCA/Orbiter combination flew to Dyess AFB, Abilene, Texas and then on to Little Rock AFB, Arkansas. On May 2 the SCA took off again and flew directly to Kennedy Space Center; the Orbiter will be towed to Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 later today. [Does anyone know which 747 was used - NASA 905 or 911?] Mir --- The EO-15 crew of Viktor Afanas'ev, Yuriy Usachyov and Vladimir Polyakov remain aboard the Mir station after 114 days in orbit. Physician-cosmonaut Polyakov, on his second spaceflight, has now accumulated almost a year in space and is currently tenth in the all time cumulative space experience rankings. Launch of the Progress M-23 robot cargo ship is scheduled for no earlier than May 18. X-15 ---- Advertisement: the Spring 1994 issue of the space history magazine Quest will contain a set of articles on the X-15 rocketplane, including one by the present author which contains the first ever complete listing of X-15 flights. You might also want to check out the March issue of Journal of the British Interplanetary Society which has a neat article on the White Sands rocket base by Joel Powell, and a dry and dull history of the Scout launch vehicle by myself. LAUNCHES -------- Michael Fennell reports that the SEDS 2 Delta stage is still in orbit, with reentry expected around May 6. Part of the tether is still attached. Launch of Titan/Centaur TC-10 is expected from LC41 at Cape Canaveral on May 3. The first Titan/Centaur launch, TC-12, was successfully carried out on Feb 7. (TC numbers courtesy General Dynamics public affairs). Recent Launches --------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Mar 2 0324 Koronas-I Tsiklon Plesetsk LC32 Solar phys 14A Mar 4 1353 Columbia Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 15A Mar 10 0340 Navstar GPS 36) Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17 Navsat 16A SEDS 2 deployer) 16B SEDS 2 end mass) Mar 13 2232 P90-5 ) Taurus Vandenberg Technology 17A DARPASAT ) Technology? 17B Mar 17 1630 Kosmos-2274 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC43 Recon 18A Mar 22 0454 Progress M-22 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 19A Apr 9 1105 Endeavour Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 20A Space Radar Lab Apr 11 0749 Kosmos-2275 ) Proton/DM2 Baykonur LC81 Navigation 21A Kosmos-2276 ) Navigation 21B Kosmos-2277 ) Navigation 21C Apr 13 0604 GOES 8 Atlas Centaur I Canaveral LC36B Weather 22A Apr 23 0802 Kosmos-2278 Zenit-2 Baykonur LC45 SIGINT 23A Apr 26 0214 Kosmos-2279 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC133 Navsat 24A Apr 28 1714 Kosmos-2280 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Recon 25A Reentries --------- Mar 15 SEDS 2 end mass Reentered Mar 18 Columbia Landed at KSC Mar 23 Progress M-21 Deorbited Apr 20 Endeavour Landed at Edwards AFB Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-65 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 3 STS-64 OV-104 Atlantis Palmdale OMDP OV-105 Endeavour KSC SLF STS-59 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/ VAB Bay 3 STS-68 ML2/ ML3/RSRM-39/ VAB Bay 1 STS-65 .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' ,