Jonathan's Space Report Jun 15, 1989 (no. 18) Hello again girls and boys, I'm semi-back! We still dont have the usenet back after our system upgrade, so I'm asking a friend to post this. I wont see the net for another week or so, so email me questions rather than post them. --------------------------------------------------------------------- OV-102 Columbia due to be moved to the VAB on Jun 29 Launches: I'll be chronological for a change... USA-37, launched May 10 by Titan 34D/Transtage, is a Vortex telemetry intelligence satellite according to AvLeak, rather than a pair of comsats as reported earlier. It is now in geostationary orbit. Kosmos-2020, launched May 17 by RN Soyuz from Baykonur, is a GRU recon satellite expected to remain in orbit until mid-July. Kosmos-2021, launched May 24 by RN Soyuz from Plesetsk, is another GRU recon satellite, probably a Vostok-class payload, and probably landed around Jun 7. Meanwhile, Kosmos-2019 landed on May 18 after a 13 day flight. The first Resurs-F satellite, launched May 25 also by RN Soyuz from Plesetsk, is another Vostok-class payload, this time for earth resources photography. The data is used by the 'Priroda' center. Other satellites in the same series have flown under the Kosmos name, like Kosmos-2000 earlier this year; civilian applications are slowly being declassified and removed from the Kosmos series. Pravda reports that two separable 'Pion' air density research subsatellites were carried into orbit with Resurs-F. The satellites, built by students at the Korolev Aviation Institute in Kubyshev, have not yet been catalogued by NORAD. Three GLONASS navigation satellites, Kosmos-2022,2023,2024, were launched on May 31 by RN Proton from Baykonur into 19000 km orbits. Yet another recon satellite, Kosmos-2025, orbited Jun 1 from Plesetsk; no details yet on Kosmos-2026 launched Jun 7. The first launch of the 44L version of Ariane 4 was successful on Jun 5. The payloads were Superbird 1, a commercial Japanese comsat, and Kopernikus/DFS, a West German TV (Deutsche FernSehen) satellite. Jun 8 saw the launch of the 38th Molniya-3 satellite by RN Molniya from Plesetsk, into a 12 hour elliptical orbit. The second Delta II launch finally got off the ground on Jun 10, from pad 17 at Cape Canaveral, placing a USAF Navstar navigation satellite (USA-38) in orbit. Finally, on Jun 14 the first Titan IV was launched from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral, carrying the first of a new generation of early warning satellites toward geostationary orbit. .----------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617)495-7144 | | Center for Astrophysics | uucp: husc6!harvard!cfa200!mcdowell | | 60 Garden Street | bitnet : mcdowell@cfa.bitnet | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | span : cfa::mcdowell | | | telex : 92148 SATELLITE CAM | | | FAX : (617)495-7356 | '----------------------------------------------------------------'