Jonathan's Space Report 15 Dec 1991 (no.98) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Atlantis has returned to KSC to be prepared for Spacelab mission STS-45. Discovery is now in the VAB being mated to the tank for mission STS-42. This mission will carry the International Microgravity Lab into orbit. Congratulations to General Dynamics on the successful launch of the first Atlas II at 2247 UT on Dec 7 from Launch Complex 36A at Cape Canaveral. The Atlas II 8102/Centaur II AC-102 vehicle successfully placed the European EUTELSAT II F-3 satellite in a 17 degree inclination transfer orbit. The first burn of the on-board German built S400 apogee engine placed the satellite in a 5 degree intermediate orbit; a few more burns are needed to place it in geostationary orbit. GD also carried out a successful launch together with USAF Space Command of the refurbished Atlas 53E booster at 1323UT on Nov 28 from Vandenberg. This was the 500th Atlas launch since the first attempt in 1957. Payload for the Atlas was the USAF weather satellite DMSP Block 5D-2 F-11, with an integrated Star 37S solid upper stage used to place the satellite in polar orbit. The Mir/Kvant/Sofora/Kvant-2/Kristall/Soyuz TM-13/Progress M-10 complex continues in orbit with crew Aleksandr Volkov and Sergey Krikalyov. I goofed on 1991-79A; it is actually a Russian geostationary satellite, Kosmos-2172. I don't know why no data on it was released initially. It was launched around 1300UT on Nov 22 from Kosmodrom Baykonur by a Proton launch vehicle. The third stage of the UR-500K stack placed the payload and fourth stage in a 191x204 km orbit inclined 51.6 deg to the equator. After less than one orbit the Blok-DM fourth stage ignited and placed the combination in a 200x36300 km transfer orbit inclined 47 degrees. At apogee the fourth stage ignited for a second time to circularise the orbit and separated from the payload into a supersynchronous 36219x36292 km orbit inclined 1.4 degrees and drifting at 6 degrees per day in longitude. By Dec 12 the payload was drifting in near-stationary orbit (35546x35981 km) at 0.3 deg per day across the Atlantic, at 16 degrees West longitude, approaching its operational station. 1991-81A, the navigation satellite, is Kosmos-2173 rather than Kosmos-2172 as erroneously stated last time. ___________________________________ |Current STS status: | |Orbiters | | | |OV-102 Columbia Palmdale | |OV-103 Discovery VAB Bay 1 | |OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 2 | |OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 | | | |ML/ET/SRB stacks | | | |ML1?/STS-45 | |ML2 | |ML3/STS-42/ET VAB Bay 1 | ----------------------------------- N.B. Information in this report is obtained from public sources and does not reflect the official views of NASA. .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (205)544-7724 | | Space Science Lab ES65 | | | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center | | | Huntsville AL 35812 | inter : mcdowell@xanth.msfc.nasa.gov | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'