Jonathan's Space Report No. 394 1999 Apr 8 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Human spaceflight ------------------- Progress M-41 was launched on Apr 2. The automatic cargo ship, based on the Soyuz spaceship, docked with the Mir complex two days later. A Soyuz-U (11A511U) launch vehicle placed it in a 51.6 degree parking orbit, and the onboard engines were used to carry out the rendezvous sequence. The Spacehab/Oceaneering SHOSS box on STS-96 mentioned in the last report is a refrigerator/freezer unit for the Space Station. STS-96 is once again scheduled for May 20. STS-96's external tank, ET-100, has been connected to the solid rocket boosters. The STS-101 flight to the station has now apparently been delayed to Dec 2. Tests of the solar panel deployment mechanism on the Chandra X-ray Observatory went well, and fuelling of the spacecraft's propulsion system is imminent. Recent Launches --------------- Arianespace launched mission V117 on Apr 2, an Ariane 42P vehicle carrying an Indian communications satellite. ISRO's Insat 2E was placed in geostationary transfer orbit. The Insat 2 series are built in India and carry a C and S band communications package. The Sea Launch Blok DM-SL made a small separation burn after deploying DemoSat. The DM-SL doesn't make a large lifetime reduction burn as I suggested last week. Table of Recent Launches ----------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Mar 5 0256 WIRE Pegasus XL Vandenberg Astronomy 11A Mar 15 0306 Globalstar M022 ) Soyuz-U/Ikar Baykonur LC1 Comsat 12A Globalstar M041 ) Comsat 12B Globalstar M046 ) Comsat 12C Globalstar M037 ) Comsat 12D Mar 21 0009 Asiasat 3S Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur LC81L Comsat 13A Mar 28 0130 DemoSat Zenit-3SL Odyssey, POR Test 14A Apr 2 1128 Progress M-41 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 15A Apr 2 2203 Insat 2E Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 16A Current Shuttle Processing Status _________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia VAB Bay 2 STS-93 Jul 9 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 1 STS-96 May 20 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-101 Dec 2 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 2 STS-99 Sep 16 MLP1/RSRM-69/ET-99 VAB Bay 1 STS-93 MLP2/RSRM-70/ET-100 VAB Bay 3 STS-96 MLP3/ .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'