Jonathan's Space Report No. 250 1995 Jul 30 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- Damage to the O-rings in internal nozzle joints in the left hand SRB for STS-71 and another SRB for STS-70 have raised safety concerns. Launch of STS-69 has been postponed pending checks on the sealant in the nozzle joints. It appears the problem can be solved by improvements to the process of applying the sealant, and there will only be a brief delay (less than a month). Mir --- The second EVA was carried out on Jul 19 at 0039 UT and lasted 3 hr 8 min. Solov'yov remained in the airlock hatch due to spacesuit problems, while Budarin began work on installing the MIRAS infrared spectrometer experiment. The third EVA was at 0030 on 21 Jul, and lasted 5hr 35 min. Both cosmonauts completed the installation of MIRAS. (Info from C. van den Berg's MIRNEWS). Progress M-28 is docked at the -X port on Mir; Soyuz TM-21 is docked at the +X port on Kvant. Recent Launches -------------- Three Uragan (Hurricane) navigation satellites were launched on Jul 24 and given the names Kosmos-2316, 2317, and 2318. Their GLONASS satellite numbers are 780, 781 and 785 respectively. They will form part of the GLONASS system, in orbital plane 2. On Jul 25 the orbit of Kosmos-2316 was 675.26 min, 19101 x 19134 km x 64.8 deg. The other two satellites were in similar orbits. The Galileo Orbiter successfully completed the ODM maneuver on Jul 27. This was the first major firing of the main liquid propellant engine which will be used for orbit insertion. The Orbiter is now targeted for its flyby of Io, while the Probe is on a Jovian impact trajectory. Geostationary Satellite Movements --------------------------------- 1995-35B, TDRS 7 was at 150W on Jul 27, drifting E at 2.5 deg/d. 1995-29A, DBS 3 appears to be moving from its initial location at 110W. 1995-27A, UHF F/O F5, is on station at 72.6E as of Jul 28. 1994-55A, Optus B3 may have moved from its station at 152.5E 1984-80A, Himawari 3 has moved out of geostationary orbit. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jun 8 0443 Kosmos-2313 Tsiklon-2 Baykonur LC90 Recon 28A Jun 10 0024 DBS 3 Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 29A Jun 22 1958 STEP 3 Pegasus XL/L1011 PAWA Science FTO Jun 27 1932 Atlantis Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 30A Jun 28 1825 Kosmos-2314 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC43 Recon 31A Jul 5 0309 Kosmos-2315 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Navigation 32A Jul 7 1623 Helios 1A ) Ariane 40 Kourou ELA2 Recon 33A CERISE ) Sigint 33B UPM LBSAT 1 ) Technology 33C Jul 10 1238 USA 112 Titan 4 Centaur Canaveral LC41 Sigint 34A Jul 13 0530 Galileo Probe - Galileo, Solar orb. 89-84E Jul 13 1342 Discovery Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 35A Jul 13 1955 TDRS 7 IUS Discovery,LEO Comsat 35B Jul 20 0304 Progress M-28 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 36A Jul 24 1552 Kosmos-2316 ) Proton-K/DM2 Baykonur Navigation 37A Kosmos-2317 ) Navigation 37B Kosmos-2318 ) Navigation 37C Reentries --------- Jun 8 Kosmos-2258 Reentered Jul 7 Atlantis Landed at KSC Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-73 Sep 21 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 1 OMDP OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 2 STS-74 Oct 26 OV-105 Endeavour LC39A STS-69 Aug 5 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-48/ET-72/OV-105 LC39A STS-69 ML2/ 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 | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html | | ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'