Jonathan's Space Report No. 205 1994 Jul 25 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- Columbia landed at 1038 UTC on Jul 23 on runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center. This was the longest Shuttle mission yet, at 353 h 55 m 01 sec. Columbia is in Orbiter Processing Bay 1 being prepared for the trip back to California for its Orbiter Maintenance Down Period (refurbishment). Meanwhile, Endeavour was towed to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Jul 21 for mating to the External Tank and solid boosters for mission STS-68, due in August. Launches -------- Kosmos-2283, launched Jul 20 from Plesetsk, is a Yantar' class imaging reconnaissance satellite built by the Samara Central Specialized Design Bureau (TsSKB). It is in a 67 degree inclination orbit and will stay up for about 60 days. APStar 1 was launched by a CZ-3 (Long March 3) from China's Xichang spaceport. It is a Hughes HS-376 communications satellite, and is owned by Asia Pacific Telecom (APT) Satellite Co., a consortium of telecommunications companies based in Hong Kong and China. This is the fourth attempted commercial Chinese launch to geostationary orbit. Previous Chinese commercial geostationary launches: 1990 Apr 7 Asiasat 1 by CZ-3 1992 Aug 13 Optus B1 by CZ-2E 1992 Dec 21 Optus B2 by CZ-2E (satellite or rocket exploded) Recent Launches --------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jun 7 0720 Kosmos-2281 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC16 Recon 32A Jun 14 1605 Foton No. 9 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC43 Materials 33A Jun 17 0707 Intelsat 702 ) Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 34A STRV 1 ) Technology 34B STRV 2 ) Technology 34C Jun 24 1350 UHF F/O F3 Atlas I Centaur Canaveral LC36B Comsat 35A Jun 27 2115 STEP 1 Pegasus XL Point Arguello Science FTO Jul 1 1224 Soyuz TM-19 Soyuz-U2 Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 36A Jul 3 0804? FSW-2 Chang Zheng 2 Jiuquan Remote sens 37A Jul 6 2358 Kosmos-2282 Proton/DM2 Baykonur LC81 EarlyWarn 38A Jul 8 1643 Columbia ) Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 39A Spacelab IML-2) Jul 8 2305 PAS 2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 40A BS-3N ) Comsat 40B Jul 14 0513 Nadezhda Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC133 Navsat 41A Jul 20 1735 Kosmos-2283 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC43 Recon 42A Jul 21 1030? APStar 1 Chang Zheng 3 Xichang Comsat 43A Reentries --------- Jul 2 Foton No. 9 Landed in Kazakhstan? Jul 9 Soyuz TM-18 Landed in Kazakhstan Jul 18? FSW-2 Landed in China? Jul 23 Columbia Landed at KSC Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 1 OMDP OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-64 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-66 OV-105 Endeavour VAB Bay 3 STS-68 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-40/ET-65/OV-105 VAB Bay 3 STS-68 ML2/RSRM-41 VAB Bay 1 STS-64 ML3/ .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'