Jonathan's Space Report Apr 2 1991 (no.69) ---------------------------------------------------- Launch of STS-37/Atlantis and the Gamma Ray Observatory remains due for April 5. Atlantis is on pad LC39B. Viktor Afanas'ev and Musa Manarov continue in orbit aboard the Mir/Kvant/Kvant-2/Kristall/Soyuz TM-11/Progress M-7 complex. The Progress M-6 cargo craft undocked on Mar 15 and reentered. Progress M-7 was launched on Mar 19 and docked on Mar 28 at the third attempt. This is the first time that a Progress has had an aborted docking; it got within 100m on Mar 22 and missed; another attempt failed on Mar 23. The Progress cargo craft is based on the Soyuz design. Kosmos-2136 landed on Mar 20 after a standard 2 week Vostok class recon mission. Kosmos-2137 was launched on Mar 19 by a Kosmos/R-14 rocket into a 449x494 km orbit inclined 65.8 degrees. This orbit marks it as one of a rare class of small spacecraft believed to be doing radar calibration or surveillance work; it is the fourth in a series launched from 1979 onwards. MLF1 Kosmos-1146 1979 Dec 5 444x494x65.9 MLF2 Kosmos-1427 1982 Dec 29 445x499x65.8 MLF3 Kosmos-1615 1984 Dec 22 453x512x65.8 MLF4 Kosmos-2137 1991 Mar 19 449x494x65.8 Kosmos-2138 was launched on Mar 26 by Soyuz from Plesetsk. It is a recon satellite carrying a number of film return capsules and will stay in orbit for 2 months. A Nadezhda navigation/search and rescue satellite was launched by Kosmos/R-14 on Mar 12. The Kospas search and rescue transponder is similar to ones carried on US NOAA weather satellites. Nadezhda satellites launched to date: NE9 Kosmos-1383 1982 Jun 29 (Kospas) 991x1029x83 NE10 Kosmos-1447 1983 Mar 24 (Kospas) 961x1015x83 NE13 Kosmos-1574 1984 Jun 21 (Kospas) 971x1010x83 NE19 Nadezhda 1989 Jul 4 (Kospas) 960x1013x83 NE20 Nadezhda 1990 Feb 27 (Kospas) 938x1003x83 NE22 Nadezhda 1991 Mar 12 (Kospas) 958x1017x83 The 40-th Molniya-3 C-band comsat was launched from Plesetsk on Mar 22. The Molniya launch vehicle is a Soyuz booster with an extra Blok-L fourth stage. ___________________________________ |Current STS status: | |Orbiters | | | |OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 1 | |OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 | |OV-104 Atlantis LC39B | | | |ML/ET/SRB stacks | | | |ML1/STS-37/ET/OV-104 LC39B | |ML2/STS-39/ET VAB Bay 1 | |ML3/STS-40 VAB Bay 3 | ----------------------------------- 10 years ago: 22-30 Mar 1981 Soyuz-39 carried out a week long mission to the Salyut-6 space station. Commander was Vladimir Dzhanibekov and researcher was the Mongolian cosmonaut Jugderdemidyn Gurragcha, who we had lots of fun learning to pronounce. 20 years ago: 1 Apr 1971 The Canadian/US ISIS 2 ionospheric studies satellite was launched. It transmitted until 1984. Also, the Soviet Kosmos-402 spacecraft tested the nuclear reactor powered ocean surveillance spacecraft bus. 30 years ago: 25 Mar 1961. NASA's Explorer 10 probe studied the outer magnetosphere; and Korabl'-Sputnik-5 carried out the final unpiloted 1-orbit test flight of the Vostok spaceship. (c) 1991 Jonathan McDowell. 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 | uucp: | | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center | bitnet : | | Huntsville AL 35812 | inter : mcdowell@xanth.msfc.nasa.gov | | USA | span : ssl::mcdowell | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'