Jonathan's Space Report No. 381 (corrected) 1998 Dec 8 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Station ------------------------ Launch of STS-88 was scrubbed at 0903 UTC on Dec 3 with an RSLS hold at T-19 seconds. A problem with a hydraulic system sensor caused a hold at T-4 min; the problem was resolved but the launch window closed seconds before STS-88 would have lifted off. Second try was the charm, with launch at 0835:34 UTC on Dec 4 placing OV-105 Endeavour in a 75 x 313 km x 51.6 deg orbit. The RSRM-67 solid boosters separated at 2 min into flight, with main engine cutoff after 8 minutes and separation of external tank ET-97 shortly after. At 0919 UTC Endeavour fired its OMS engines to raise the orbit to 180 x 322 km x 51.6 deg. On Dec 5 at 2225 UTC Nancy Currie unberthed Unity from the payload bay using the RMS arm. By 2350 UTC Unity's PMA-2 port was docked to the Orbiter Docking System. At this point OV-105 was in a 189 x 321 km x 51.6 deg orbit. Next it was time for the rendezvous with the FGB module. On Dec 6 at 2347 UTC Endeavour grappled Zarya with the robot arm, and at 0207 UTC on Dec 7 it was soft docked to the PMA-1 port on Unity. After some minor glitches hard dock was completed at 0248 UTC. Unity and Zarya now form the core of the future Station. Endeavour remains docked to the Station pending spacewalks to attach exterior cables. Erratum: STS-88 commander Cabana is of course "formerly NASA chief astronaut", he stepped down in favor of Ken Cockrell in order to take the STS-88 command chair. Some corrections to the STS-88 payload bay manifest: there are a total of four Portable Foot Restraints and two PFR handles stashed on opposite sides of the bay in bay 5. The two TCS sensors are on separate carriers in bays 6 and 7, so the manifest actually reads: Sill: RMS arm No. 303 Bay 1-2: Tunnel Adapter 002 Bay 3-4: Orbiter Docking System/External Airlock (Boeing/Palmdale) Bay 7-13: Unity (Node 1) (Boeing/Huntsville) PMA-1 docking adapter (Boeing/Huntingdon Beach), PMA-2 docking adapter (Boeing/Huntingdon Beach) Bay 2 Port: GABA adapter with SAC-A satellite Bay 4 Stbd: Carrier with Tool Stowage Assembly Bay 5 Port: GABA adapter with two PFR spacewalk plaftorms and one PFR stanchion. Bay 5 Stbd: GABA adapter with two more PFR spacewalk plaftorms and one PFR stanchion. Bay 6 Port: GABA adapter with Mightysat Bay 6 Stbd: APC carrier with TCS laser rendezvous sensor Bay 7 Stbd: APC carrier with TCS laser rendezvous sensor Bay 13 Port: GABA adapter with SEM-7 and G-093 canisters Bay 13 Stbd: GABA adapter with IMAX Cargo Bay Camera Recent Launches --------------- The SWAS satellite was launched on Dec 6. SWAS, the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, is a Small Explorer mission and part of the Origins program. The satellite has a 0.6m telescope with a 490 to 550 GHz submillimeter receiver and an acousto-optical spectrometer. The submillimeter band is rich in spectral lines from molecular clouds, and SWAS will be used to study the cooling of molecular cloud cores, the sites of star formation in our galaxy, by measuring lines from molecular oxygen and water. Principal investigator for SWAS is Gary Melnick of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. Earlier SMEX missions were SAMPEX, FAST, and TRACE. Congratulations to my colleagues on the SWAS team! The Orbital Sciences L-1011 Stargazer took off from Vandenberg AFB's Runway 30/12 on Dec 3 carrying a Pegasus XL launch vehicle with the SWAS astronomy satellite aboard. It reached the drop box at 36.0N 123.0W over the Pacific; however, due to a software-related range problem the range ordered the launch scrubbed and the L-1011 returned to base with SWAS/Pegasus still attached. Nothing was wrong with the Pegasus or the L-1011 and the launch was reset for Dec 4, but delayed due to weather. On Dec 6, launch was successful. The L-1011 took off at 2358 UTC on Dec 5 and reached the box at 36N 123W, dropping the Pegasus at 0057 UTC on Dec 6. SWAS reached a 637 x 652 km x 69.9 deg orbit and separated from the third stage at 0109 UTC. By my count Dec 3 was the fifth time a Pegasus has been scrubbed with the carrier plane already in the air: 1994 May 12 F-5 STEP 2 aborted T-27 seconds 1994 Jun 23 F-6 STEP 1 aborted T-5 seconds 1996 Aug 18 F-13 FAST aborted T-11 minutes 1996 Oct 30 F-14 SAC-B aborted T-5 seconds 1998 Dec 3 F-25 SWAS aborted T-4 minutes Arianespace Flight V114 roared into orbit on Dec 6 carrying the Satmex 5 satellite. The Ariane 42L rocket entered a 211 x 21516 km x 7.0 deg subsynchronous orbit from which the Hughes HS-601HP satellite will use its apogee engine to raise perigee and then apogee to reach geostationary orbit. Satmex 5 is operated by Satellites Mexicanos S.A. de C.V, a company (partly owned by Loral) which has taken over from the Mexican Telecoms Ministry which operated the Morelos satellites. Satmex 5 will replace Morelos 2. The V114 launch preceded the Pegasus/SWAS launch less than 15 minutes. Satmex 5 mass was 4135 kg at launch; I don't have a figure for the dry mass. It carries the XIPS ion engine stationkeeping system. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Nov 1 1703 Spartan 201 - Discovery, LEO Astronomy 64C Nov 4 0512 PAS 8 Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur Comsat 65A Nov 6 1337 Iridium 2) Delta 7920-10C Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 66A Iridium 83) Comsat 66E Iridium 84) Comsat 66D Iridium 85) Comsat 66C Iridium 86) Comsat 66B Nov 10 1930? Spoutnik-41 - Mir, LEO Amateur 62C Nov 20 0640 Zarya Proton-K Baykonur LC81L Station 67A Nov 22 2354 BONUM-1 Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17B Comsat 68A Dec 4 0835 Endeavour ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 69A Unity ) Station Dec 6 0043 Satmex 5 Ariane 42L Kourou ELA2 Comsat Dec 6 0057 SWAS Pegasus XL Vandenberg Astronomy Current Shuttle Processing Status _________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-93 Mar 1999 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 1 STS-96 May 1999 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 2 STS-101 Aug 1999 OV-105 Endeavour LEO STS-88 MLP1/RSRM-69 VAB Bay 1 STS-93 MLP2/ MLP3/ LC39A STS-88 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS6 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html | | Back issues: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/back | | Subscribe/unsub: mail majordomo@head-cfa.harvard.edu, (un)subscribe jsr | .-------------------------------------------------------------------------.