Jonathan's Space Report No. 116 1992 May 26 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Launches -------- The third launch of India's ASLV rocket was the first successful one. The SROSS (Streched Rohini Satellite) 3 test satellite was inserted into orbit on May 20. The indigenous Indian program has met with mixed success to date. This launch clears the way for development of the more ambitious PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). Indian satellites: Aryabhata (1975, launched by Kosmos from Kapustin Yar, Russia) Bhaskara (1979, launched by Kosmos from Kapustin Yar, Russia) RS-1 (1979, by SLV-3 from Sriharikota, fell in sea) RS-1 (1980, by SLV-3 from Sriharikota, first Indian orbital launch) RS-D-1 (1981, by SLV-3 from Sriharikota, orbit lower than planned) Apple (1981, by Ariane from Kourou, Guyane) Bhaskara 2 (1981, by Kosmos from Kapustin Yar, Russia) Insat 1A (1982, by Delta from Cape Canaveral, Florida) RS-D-2 (1983, by SLV-3 from Sriharikota) Insat 1B (1983, by PAM-D from Challenger, low Earth orbit) SROSS-1 (1987, by ASLV from Sriharikota, fell in sea) IRS-1 (1988, by Vostok from Baykonur, Kazakhstan) SROSS-2 (1988, by ASLV from Sriharikota, fell in sea) INSAT 1C (1988, by Ariane from Kourou, Guyane) Insat 1D (1990, by Delta from Cape Canaveral, Florida) IRS-1B (1991, by Vostok from Baykonur, Kazakhstan) SROSS-3 (1992, by ASLV from Sriharikota, 4th Indian orbital launch) Launch Vehicles of The World ---------------------------- With the successful Indian launch, it's a good moment to look at the current launch capabilities of the various nations. Only vehicles with at least one successful orbital launch are listed. USA: Scout G, Delta 7925, Atlas E, Atlas Centaur (I,II), Titan II/III/IV, STS, Pegasus Russia: Vostok, Soyuz, Molniya, Proton 3/4, Energiya Ukraine: Kosmos, Tsiklon 2/3, Zenit France/ESA: Ariane Japan: Mu 3S, H-1 China: Chang Zheng 2C, 2E, 3, 4 Israel: Shaviyt India: ASLV Only one country has developed space launch capability and then abandoned it: Britain, which scrapped its Black Arrow in 1971. Shuttle Notes ------------- Record update: NASA Headline News credited Brandenstein with the rendezvous record. Although he has done more rendezvous than any other active astronaut, the all time record is shared by Tom Stafford and Vladimir Dzhanibekov at 6 rendezvous each. The record for successful dockings (at least soft dock) is held by Charles Conrad with 8 dockings. Correction: The record for docking failures is held by the Skylab 2 crew, not by Pierre Thuot. It took them 9 tries before they were hard docked. On May 18 the Intelsat VI F-3 satellite raised its perigee, entering a 9152x 71379 km x 7.53 deg orbit. By May 21 it was in circular synchronous orbit. Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia VAB Bay 3 STS-50 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 Mod OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 1 STS-46 OV-105 Endeavour Biggs AAF,TX STS-49 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/STS-46/ET VAB Bay 1 ML2/ VAB Bay 2 ML3/STS-50/ET VAB Bay 3 .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'