Jonathan's Space Report No. 276 1996 Feb 17 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- The next Shuttle mission is STS-75/Columbia, due on Feb 22. Mir --- Correction: The spacewalk on Feb 8 was cut short because the astronauts didn't have powerful enough tools to release a bolt on an antenna they were doing maintenance on. The rumour about problems with Gidzenko's spacesuit is apparently false, and I apologize for propagating it. (Source: C vd Berg). Launch of the EO-21 crew, Yuriy Ivanovich Onufrienko and Yuriy Vladimirovich Usachyov (callsign Skif-1 and Skif-2) will take place on Feb 21 aboard Soyuz TM-23. Recent Launches -------------- The Intelsat 708 satellite was launched by the first CZ-3B (Chang Zheng/Long March 3B) on Feb 14. The launch vehicle went off course shortly after leaving the pad and was destroyed about 20s after liftoff. This is the third failure in recent years for the Long March rocket (the other failures used the older CZ-2E variant). Two successful launches late last year had restored its reputation, but after the latest failure insurers are likely to be wary. Launch time was quoted as 03:01 local time. AP reported that two soldiers were slightly injured in the blast. The CZ-3B uses the stretched first stage from the CZ-3A, which flew once in 1994, the strap-on motors from the CZ-2E, the usual second stage common to the CZ-2/3 series, and the hydrogen/oxygen high energy third stage from the CZ-3A. The NEAR space probe was launched on Feb 17 at 2043 UTC. The first of NASA's Discovery planetary series, NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) is built by the Applied Physics Lab (APL) of Johns Hopkins University. The Delta 7925-8 launches NEAR into solar orbit with perihelion of about 1.0 AU and aphelion of about 2.5 AU (anyone with accurate orbital data, please send me the details). In Jun 1997 NEAR flies past minor planet (253) Mathilde, and in Jul 1997 it makes a course correction for an Earth flyby in Jan 1998. The Earth flyby, at an altitude of about 480 km, lowers aphelion to around 1.7 AU. In Jan 1999, NEAR makes rendezvous with minor planet (433) Eros and enters orbit around it. The 805 kg spacecraft carries a liquid propellant engine with a 100-lb thruster, a multispectral imaging camera, an X/gamma-ray spectrometer to study asteroid composition, a near infrared spectrograph, a magnetometer, a laser rangefinder, and an X-band communications transponder used for tracking. The Delta second stage placed NEAR in a 185 km parking orbit at 2052 UTC; it ignited again at 2105 and burned for 3 minutes. At 2109 the PAM-D third stage solid motor ignited; at around 2111 the PAM-D separated and NEAR began to deploy its solar panels. The Canberra tracking station confirmed successful launch at around 2200 UTC. Obituary -------- Spaceflight journalist and analyst Joel Runes died of a heart attack on Jan 11. Joel was a frequent contributor of information to this newsletter, and a nice guy whose friendship, analytical skills and common sense were greatly valued. A former Goddard Space Flight Center engineer, Joel lived in Florida and reported in detail on every launch from the Cape. Mikhail Reshetnev died on Jan 26, not Jan 29 (thanks, Maxim). Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jan 11 0941 Endeavour Shuttle Kennedy LC39 Spaceship 01A Jan 12 2310 Panamsat 3R ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 02A Measat 1 ) Comsat 02B Jan 14 1111 Koreasat 2 Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17B Comsat 03A Jan 14 1132 OAST-Flyer OV105, LEO Science 01B Jan 16 1533 Kosmos-2327 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Navsat 04A Jan 25 0956 Gorizont Proton-K/DM2 Baykonur LC200 Comsat 05A Feb 1 0115 Palapa C-1 Atlas IIAS Canaveral LC36B Comsat 06A Feb 5 0719 N-STAR b Ariane 44P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 07A Feb 14 1901 Intelsat 708 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comsat FTO Feb 17 2043 NEAR Delta 7925-8 Canaveral LC17B Space probe Payloads no longer in orbit -------------------------- Dec 7 Galileo Probe Entered Jovian atmosphere Dec 11 Kosmos-398 Reentered over Pacific Dec 18 Kosmos-2305 Deorbited Jan 20 Endeavour Landed at KSC Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia LC39B STS-75 Feb 22 OV-103 Discovery Palmdale OMDP OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 1 STS-76 Mar 21 OV-105 Endeavour KSC RW15 STS-77 May 16 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/ ML2/RSRM-46/ET-77 VAB Bay 3 STS-76 ML3/RSRM-53/ET-76/OV-102 LC39B STS-75 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS6 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html | | ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'