Jonathan's Space Report No. 226 1995 Jan 6 Brookline, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An abbreviated JSR this week - I've been busy with other crises. Normal service will be resumed in a couple of weeks. Discovery was moved to the VAB on Feb 5 and has now been mated to the external tank. It will be rolled out to the pad next week. New Launches ------------ The NOAA-J polar orbiting weather satellite was launched on board the refurbished Atlas 11E ICBM on Dec 30 into a 847 x 860 x 98.9 deg orbit. It is the sixth Advanced Tiros N weather satellite, built by Martin Marietta Astro Space, and the last to be launched by an Atlas. NOAA K is expected to be launched by Titan II. NOAA-14, as NOAA-J was renamed on reaching orbit, carries a variety of meteorological sensors including the AVHRR imaging radiometer, and a SARSAT search and rescue relay package. It replaces NOAA-13, which failed in 1993 shortly after launch. Kosmos-2305 is an advanced imaging spy satellite, launched from Baykonur into a 180 x 283 km x 64.90 deg orbit on Dec 29. The next day the orbit was raised to its operational altitude of 240 x 297 km, characteristic of the longest duration Russian spy satellites with lifetimes of more than a year. A Raduga communications satellite was launched by Proton from Baykonur. This completes a busy year for Proton, which had 13 launches. The next scheduled Russian launch is a Tsikada navigation satellite, due for Jan 24 (info from V. Agapov). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Dec 1 2255 Panamsat K2 Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat FTO Dec 14 1421 Molniya-1T Molniya-M Plesetsk LC43 Comsat 81A Dec 16 1200 Luch Proton-K/DM-2 Baykonur LC81 Comsat 82A Dec 20 0511 Kosmos-2298 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Comsat 83A Dec 22 2219 DSP F17 Titan 4/IUS Canaveral LC40 Early Warn 84A Dec 26 0301 RS-15 Rokot Baykonur Comsat 85A Dec 26 2227 Kosmos-2299 ) Tsiklon-3 Plesetsk LC32 Comsat 86A Kosmos-2300 ) Comsat 86B Kosmos-2301 ) Comsat 86C Kosmos-2302 ) Comsat 86D Kosmos-2303 ) Comsat 86E Kosmos-2304 ) Comsat 86F Dec 28 1131? Raduga Proton-K/DM-2 Baykonur Comsat 87A Dec 29 1130? Kosmos-2305 Soyuz-U Baykonur Recon 88A Dec 30 1002 NOAA-14 Atlas E Vandenberg Weather 89A Reentries --------- Dec 9 Kosmos-2238 Reentered Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia Palmdale OMDP - OV-103 Discovery VAB Bay 3 STS-63 Feb 2 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-71 Jun OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-67 Mar 2 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-42/ET-68 VAB Bay 3 STS-63 ML2/RSRM-43 VAB Bay 1 STS-67 ML3/ **** In memoriam Leanne and Shannon ***** .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/jsr.html | ! ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'