Jonathan's Space Report 11 Nov 1991 (no.94) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Atlantis was moved to pad LC39A on Oct 24. Launch is due for November 19. The Mir/Kvant/Sofora/Kvant-2/Kristall/Soyuz TM-13/Progress M-10 complex continues in orbit with crew Aleksandr Volkov and Sergey Krikalyov. Progress M-10 docked with Mir on Oct 21 after a failed attempt on Oct 19. Orbit of the complex on Nov 1 was 391x398 km inclined 51.6 deg. A Gorizont comsat was launched on Oct 23 by a UR-500K Proton rocket with a Blok-DM upper stage. The comsat is probably the last of a series of three belonging to the Russian Republic. By Nov 4 it was on station at 80 deg E. The last Intelsat VI satellite, Intelsat VI F-1, was launched by Ariane on Oct 29. Its R4D liquid apogee motor was fired in several burns on Oct 31 as it began the climb to stationary orbit. Until a few years ago, most geostationary comsats used solid motors to circularize the orbit in a single burn, with small stationkeeping thrusters to move the craft to the desired longitude, but the latest comsats mostly use liquid engines to slowly raise the perigee of the transfer orbit in a series of burns. Erratum: Mike McCants points out to me that Kosmos-1868, mentioned by me a couple of weeks ago, reentered in Mar 1989. ___________________________________ |Current STS status: | |Orbiters | | | |OV-102 Columbia Palmdale | |OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 3 | |OV-104 Atlantis LC39A | |OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 | | | |ML/ET/SRB stacks | | | |ML1/STS-44/ET/OV-104 LC39A | |ML2 | |ML3?/STS-42 VAB Bay 1 | ----------------------------------- N.B. 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 | | | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center | | | Huntsville AL 35812 | inter : mcdowell@xanth.msfc.nasa.gov | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'