Jonathan's Space Report Jan 24 1991 (no.64) ---------------------------------------------------- Afans'ev and Manarov continue in orbit aboard the Mir/Kvant/Kvant-2/Kristall/Soyuz TM-11/Progress M-6 complex. The Progress M-6 cargo craft was launched on Jan 14 to resupply the station. Discovery will be moved to the VAB at the end of the month to be mated to the external tank and solid boosters for mission STS-39, an unclassified military mission due for launch in late Feb or early Mar. Stacking of solid boosters for the GRO deployment mission STS-37 has begun. The NATO IV-A comsat was launched by Delta 7925 from Canaveral on Jan 8 into geostationary orbit, to provide communications for NATO forces. Most NATO satellites are positioned over the Atlantic. There were four NATO III satellites launched between 1976 and 1984, and two smaller NATO II satellites launched in 1970 and 1971. These were preceded by the Initial Defence Satellite Communications Program (IDCSP) of small sub-synchronous satellites, which was a US system retrospectively considered to have been the NATO I program. An Ariane 4 rocket launched two geostationary TV broadcasting satellites on Jan 15, Italsat 1 from Italy and Eutelsat II F-2 for the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization. Two Raduga comsats were launched in late December by Proton rockets from Baykonur. The first, on Dec 20, was the 26th standard Raduga TV relay satellite. The second, on Dec 27, was the second advanced Raduga-1 satellite, which first flew in 1989. Raduga ('Rainbow') is a C-band satellite relaying TV and telephone communications in the Soviet Union. Kosmos-2113, launched on Dec 21, is a new 7-tonne long duration digital imaging recon satellite, replacing Kosmos-2072 which was deorbited on Nov 21 after a 222-day mission. It was launched from Baykonur on a Soyuz booster, and is the most advanced Soviet spy satellite. Kosmos-2114, 2115, 2116, 2117, 2118, and 2119 are six small satellites launched on a single three-stage Tsiklon launch vehicle from Plesetsk. They are probably military communication relays. A couple of these six-satellite launches occur each year, and appear to be replacing the older octuplet system launched by the Kosmos R-14. Kosmos-2120, launched by Soyuz from Plesetsk on Dec 26 into a low 82 degree orbit, is probably a Vostok based recon satellite. By mid January it had undergone a number of large maneuvers to inspect particular ground targets. ___________________________________ |Current STS status: | |Orbiters | | | |OV-102 Columbia VAB Bay 2 | |OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 1 | |OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 2 | | | |ML/ET/SRB stacks | | | |ML1/STS-37 VAB Bay 3 | |ML2/STS-39/ET VAB Bay 1 | ----------------------------------- (c) 1991 Jonathan McDowell