Jonathan's Space Report No. 336 1997 Sep 30 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- Atlantis was launched on Sep 26 at 0234 UTC on mission STS-86 to Mir. The TI rendevous terminal initiation burn was carried out at 1732 UTC on Sep 27, and Atlantis docked with the SO (Docking Module) on the Mir complex at 1958 UTC. The crew exchange was completed on Sep 28, with David Wolf replacing Michael Foale on the Mir crew. The crews are currently: Atlantis STS-86: Commander, Jim Wetherbee, USN, NASA Pilot, Mike Bloomfield, USAF, NASA Mission Specialists: (MS1) Vladimir Titov, Russian Air Force; (MS2) Dr. Scott Parazynski, NASA; (MS3) Gen. Jean-Loup Chretien, CNES/France; (MS4) Wendy Lawrence, USN, NASA. (MS5) Dr. Michael Foale, NASA; Mir EO-24: Commander: (KE) Aleksandr Solov'yov, Russian Air Force Flight Engineers: (BI-1) Pavel Vinogradov, RKK Energiya; (BI-2) Dr. David Wolf, NASA. Titov and Parazynski are scheduled to make a spacewalk on Oct 1. Launch of the Progress M-36 cargo ship is expected on Oct 5. Recent Launches --------------- A Kosmos-3M (11K65M) rocket built by AO Polyot, Omsk, was launched on Sep 23 at 1644 UTC. The two-stage 11K65M is based on Yangel's R-14 IRBM, and is used to launch small payloads. The restartable S3 third stage placed the Kosmos-2346 payload in a circular 1000 km orbit. The payload is a navigation satellite also built by AO Polyot for the Russian Navy. The first Soviet navigation satellite was called Tsiklon and was launched in 1967; the current satellite is of similar design and is probably one of the Parus series. A small secondary payload was carried on the mission: FAISAT-2V, a data messaging satellite built and operated by Final Analysis, Inc. of Lanham, Maryland. Vladimir Agapov reports that FAISAT separated from the Kosmos-2346 satellite on Sep 23 at 2204 UTC. An 8K78M Molniya-M rocket built by TsSKB-Progress of Samara, with a Blok-ML upper stage probably built by NPO Lavochkin of Khimki, was launched on Sep 24 and placed in elliptical orbit a Molniya-1T communications satellite for the Russian Defense Ministry. The Molniya-1T satellites are built by NPO Prikladnoi Mekhaniki of the former city Krasnoyarsk-26 (I forget its new name). The original Molniya-1 satellite bus was developed by the Korolyov bureau and first launched in 1964; the elliptical 12 hour orbit allowed it to spend long times above the horizon in the Russian far north. The Molniya-1T replaced the older Molniya-1 model at some point in the 1970s, but the details of which satellites were Molniya-1 and which were Molniya-1T have not yet been released by the Russians. Five more Iridium satellites were launched on Sep 27. The new group includes the SV019 satellite which was left out of an earlier launch. The two stage Boeing Delta 7920-10C was launched from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg AFB and deployed the satellites in a 540 x 564 km x 86.7 deg parking orbit. The second stage then restarted to enter a disposal orbit of 488 x 607 km x 86.9 deg. Boeing is planning some new variants of the Delta II to launch NASA's Med-Lite class payloads. The standard Delta 7920 has nine Alliant GEM solid strapons, an extra-extended long tank Thor first stage, and a Delta/AJ10-118K second stage. The Delta 7925 version adds a Star 48 (PAM-D) solid motor third stage. The new variants are the Delta 7320 and 7420, which are like the Delta 7920 but with only 3 or 4 solid strapons, and the Delta 7326 and 7426, which add a Star 37FM solid third stage. The small Star 37C,D and E motors were used as Delta third stages from the late 1960s to early 1980s, when they were phased out in favour of the much more powerful Star 48. The Star 37FM is an improved version of the older Star 37 models. Stage Impulse Mass Star 37E 2910 kNs 1123 kg Star 37FM 3053 kNs 1148 kg Star 48 5700 kNs 2140 kg The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the IRS-1D remote sensing satellite on Sep 29 from Sriharikota range. IRS-1D was placed in a 306 x 822 km x 98.6 deg orbit by the 4-stage PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). The intended orbit for IRS satellites is around 800 km circular, possibly indicating a launch vehicle problem since earlier IRS satellites did not have their own orbit-changing propulsion system. We'll have to wait and see if it maneuvers to raise perigee. The 1200 kg satellite is similar to IRS-1C and carries the 23-m resolution CCD-based LISS sensor, a 6-m resolution black and white imager, and a low res wide field sensor with an 800 km image width. The CZ-3B launch of Aug 19, which placed Agila 2 in orbit, was apparently not as successful as first thought. The initial transfer orbit was 170 x 44499 km x 24.63 deg, which is higher apogee than the standard GTO orbit. However, reportedly the intended apogee was several thousand km higher still, and extra fuel had to be used to let the satellite reach its final orbit. Not So Recent Launches ---------------------- 40 years ago, on 1957 Oct 4, the 8K71PS launch vehicle, a minor modification of the experimental 8K71 ICBM, was launched from the NIIP-5 test range in Kazakstan (then the Kazakh SSR). Despite premature shutdown of the Blok A core stage, the core stage and its satellite payload, PS-1, reached orbit to become the first artificial earth satellites. The PS-1 and the 8K71 (R-7) were developed by Sergei Korolyov's design bureau at NII-88/Podlipki, now RKK Energiya. Here at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the optical satellite tracking project which led to improved understanding of geodesy and atmospheric density; our former director Fred Whipple will be giving his reminiscences. We extend our best wishes to all veterans of the Baker-Nunn, Moonwatch, and related programs around the world. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. 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/DM-2 Baykonur Early Warn 41A Aug 19 1750 Agila 2 CZ-3B Xichang LC2 Comsat 42A Aug 21 0038 Iridium SV022) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 43E Iridium SV023) Comsat 43D Iridium SV024) Comsat 43C Iridium SV025) Comsat 43B Iridium SV026) Comsat 43A Aug 23 0651 Lewis LMLV-1 Vandenberg SLC6 Remote sen. 44A Aug 25 1439 ACE Delta 7920 Canaveral LC17A Space sci. 45A Aug 28 0033 PAS 5 Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur Comsat 46A Aug 29 1502 FORTE Pegasus XL Vandenberg Space sci. 47A Sep 1 1400 Iridium MFS ) CZ-2C Taiyuan Inert 48B Iridium MFS ) Inert 48F Sep 2 2221 Hot Bird 3 ) Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 49A Meteosat 7 ) Weather 49B Sep 4 1203 GE-3 Atlas IIAS Canaveral LC36A Comsat 50A Sep 14 0136 Iridium SV027 ) Proton-K/DM2 Baykonur Comsat 51D Iridium SV028 ) Comsat 51E Iridium SV029 ) Comsat 51A Iridium SV030 ) Comsat 51F Iridium SV031 ) Comsat 51G Iridium SV032 ) Comsat 51B Iridium SV033 ) Comsat 51C Sep 23 1644 Kosmos-2346 ) Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Navsat 52A FAISAT-2V ) Comsat 52B Sep 23 2358 Intelsat 803 Ariane 42L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 53A Sep 24 2132 Molniya-1T Molniya-M Plesetsk LC43/4 Comsat 54A Sep 26 0234 Atlantis Shuttle Kennedy LC39 Spaceship 55A Sep 27 0123 Iridium SV019 ) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 56A Iridium SV034 ) 56E Iridium SV035 ) 56D Iridium SV036 ) 56C Iridium SV037 ) 56B Sep 29 0447 IRS-1D PSLV Sriharikota Rem sens. 57A 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 Mir STS-86 Sep 25 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-89 Jan 15 MLP/SRB/ET/OV stacks MLP1/RSRM63/ET-89 VAB STS-87 MLP2/ MLP3/RSRM64? VAB STS-89 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'