Jonathan's Space Report No. 331 1997 Aug 23 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- Progress M-35 successfully redocked with Mir at 1253 UTC on Aug 18. The Mir computer crashed just before the docking, and the station drifted out of attitude, causing the Progress automatic docking system to shut down; however, commander Solov'yov completed the docking by manual remote control. The computer was repaired by Aug 19, and the internal spacewalk was delayed only two days. Solov'yov and Vinogradov began their internal spacewalk on Aug 22. Vinogradov worked inside the Spektr module while Solov'yov helped him from the transfer compartment (perekhodniy ostek), the central node where all the big modules and the Soyuz transport craft are docked. Foale spent the spacewalk in the descent craft of the Soyuz, with the two hatches of the Soyuz habitation module between him and the depressurized transfer node. Depressurization of the transfer node was begun at 0959 UTC, but when a leak in Vinogradov's glove was found a repressurization was ordered, at about 1030 UTC. He swapped the glove for a spare, and depressurization began again at around 1045 UTC. The hatch to Spektr was opened at 1114 UTC and Vinogradov entered the module at about 1138 UTC. By 1300 UTC the cables had been connected to the hatch and Vinogradov began unsuccessfully searching for the hull puncture. By 1400 UTC he was out of the module and work to seal the hatch was underway. The hatch was sealed at 1430 UTC and repressurization of the transfer compartment began; repressurization was well underway at the 1447 UTC communications pass and was completed at 1503 UTC. Estimated times for the first depressurization about 0h30min, and for the second about 3h 50min. The formal time of the spacewalk according to NASA was 5h 04min (suits on battery power to completion of repress), although usually NASA only counts to the beginning of repress which would make the time about 4h 31m. Discovery completed mission STS-85, landing on RW33 at Kennedy Space Center at 1108 UTC on Aug 19. Atlantis/STS-86 was rolled out to the launch pad on Aug 18; it will go to Mir and trade Dave Wolf for Mike Foale. Recent Launches --------------- China's Chang Zheng 3B launch vehicle made its first successful launch on Aug 19 from Xichang. The previous attempt failed shortly after takeoff causing numerous casualties. The CZ-3B ("Long March 3B") is built by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) near Beijing, with the first two stages made by the Shanghai Bureau of Astronautics. The powerful liquid-hydrogen third stage made its fourth successful flight (it is also used on the CZ-3A). The CZ-2, CZ-3 and CZ-4 rockets all use a common two-stage core. There's an older version of these core stages, built by CALT, and an upgraded version, which is built by Shanghai for at least some of the variants. The various Long March rockets are: Variant Prime Configuration Contractor CZ-2C: CALT Old core CZ-2D: Shanghai New core CZ-2E: CALT New core with stretched stage 2, plus 4 liquid boosters CZ-3: CALT Old core with small LOX/LH2 stage CZ-3A: CALT New core with large LOX/LH2 stage CZ-3B: CALT New core with large LOX/LH2 stage and 4 liquid boosters CZ-4: Shanghai New core with conventional third stage CALT's old original CZ-2 (1974), Shanghai's FB-1 (1973-1981), and CALT's DF-5 ballistic missile are believed to have been similar to the CZ-2C. The DF-31 ballistic missile may be similar to the CZ-2D. CALT's CZ-1 used to launch the first two Chinese satellites in 1970-71 was a smaller rocket of a different design. The CZ-3B placed in geostationary transfer orbit a Space Systems/Loral FS-1300 communications satellite, Agila 2. Agila 2, also known as Mabuhay, is owned by Mabuhay Phillipine Satellite Corp. The fourth Iridium launch, on Aug 21, placed five more Motorola/Lockheed cellphone satellites in orbit using a Boeing Delta 7920 launch vehicle from Vandenberg AFB in California. This is the first Delta launch since McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing. Lockheed Martin Astronautics (Denver) successfully launched the second LMLV-1 Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 6 on Aug 23. (The first vehicle, built by Lockheed/Sunnyvale prior to the Martin Marietta merger and at that time called LLV-1, was destroyed in an Aug 1995 launch attempt). The LMLV is launched from the pedestal originally build for one of the Shuttle's solid rocket boosters. The LMLV carried NASA's Lewis remote sensing satellite which features an imaging spectrometer (so-called `hyperspectral imager'). Lewis is built and operated by TRW under NASA HQ's Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative (a companion satellite, Clark, is being built by the bit of Orbital Sciences Corp. that used to be CTA). Unlike most NASA satellites, there is no NASA center managing the program, although Stennis Space Center is involved in the data distribution. The Lewis satellite also carries an ultraviolet background astronomy experiment from Berkeley. Initial orbit of Lewis is 289 x 306 km x 97.6 deg. The LMLV-1 uses a Thiokol/Utah Castor 120 first stage (a variant of the Peacekeeper ICBM's TU-120 motor), an Orbus 21D second stage from UTC/San Jose, and an Orbit Adjust Module with Olin/RRC thrusters. A hydrazine propellant system will raise Lewis' orbit to its operational altitude. Congratulations to the folks at LMA/Denver on getting the LMLV to orbit. Kosmos-2345 is now in near-geostationary orbit. It is reported to be heading for 24W and is therefore probably a Prognoz-class early warning satellite built by the Lavochkin association. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jul 1 1802 Columbia ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 32A Spacelab MSL-1R ) Jul 5 0411 Progress M-35 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 33A Jul 6 0600 Sojourner - Sagan Station, Mars Rover Jul 9 1304 Iridium SV015 ) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 34A Iridium SV017 ) Comsat 34B Iridium SV018 ) Comsat 34C Iridium SV020 ) Comsat 34D Iridium SV021 ) Comsat 34E Jul 23 0343 GPS SVN 43 Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17A Navsat 35A Jul 28 0115 Superbird C Atlas IIAS Canaveral LC36B Comsat 36A Aug 1 2020 OrbView 2 Pegasus XL Vandenberg Remote sen.37A Aug 5 1536 Soyuz TM-26 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 38A Aug 7 1441 Discovery Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 39A Aug 7 2227 CRISTA-SPAS OV-103,LEO Remote sen.39B Aug 8 0646 PAS 6 Ariane 4 Kourou ELA2 Comsat 40A Aug 14 2049 Kosmos-2345 Proton-K/DM2 Baykonur Early Warn 41A Aug 19 1750 Agila 2 CZ-3B Xichang LC2 Comsat 42A Aug 21 0038 Iridium 22) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 43E Iridium 23) Comsat 43D Iridium 24) Comsat 43C Iridium 25) Comsat 43B Iridium 26) Comsat 43A Aug 23 0651 Lewis LMLV-1 Vandenberg SLC6 Remote sen. 44A Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-87 Nov 19 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 3 STS-91 May 28 OV-104 Atlantis LC39A STS-86 Sep 22 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-89 Jan 15 MLP/SRB/ET/OV stacks MLP1/ MLP2/RSRM-61/ET/OV-104 LC39A STS-86 MLP3/ .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS6 | | | 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 | | Back issues: ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'