Jonathan's Space Report No. 198 1994 May 31 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- OV-104 Atlantis has returned to Florida after modifications at Rockwell's Palmdale, California plant. The 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft flew from Palmdale to Biggs AAF, El Paso, TX on May 27; from Biggs to Warner-Robbins AFB, Macon, GA on May 28; and on to the Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC on May 29. During the refurbishment, OV-104 was modified to support the Mir docking module. Atlantis is now in Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3; Discovery vacated that slot and is being garaged in the Vehicle Assembly Building until Columbia's processing is complete (around Jun 10); Discovery will then take that parking spot. [Source: Spacelink; KSC PAO] Summary of forthcoming missions: Jul OV-102 Columbia STS-65, carrying Spacelab Long Module (International Microgravity Lab 2) and Extended Duration Orbiter pallet (4th flight). Aug OV-105 Endeavour STS-68, carrying Spacelab Pallet (Shuttle Radar Lab 2) and MPESS pallet (MAPS air pollution monitor) Sep OV-103 Discovery STS-64, carrying Spacelab Pallet (Lidar In-Space Techology Experiment), and MPESS pallet with Spartan-201 free flyer. Oct OV-104 Atlantis STS-66, carrying Spacelab Igloo and Pallet (ATLAS-3), and Astro-SPAS free flyer (CRISTA). Columbia's crew consists of six NASA astronauts and the third Japanese space traveller, Dr. Chiaki Naito Mukai, who will become the first Japanese woman in space. MIR --- Progress M-23 docked with the Mir complex at 0618 UTC on May 24. [Source: V. Agapov]. The EO-15 commander and flight engineer, Viktor Afanas'ev and Yuriy Usachyov, will be replaced next month by the EO-16 crew, Yuriy Malenchenko and Talgat Musabaev, who will be launched on the Soyuz TM-19 ferry ship on Jun 20. Physician-cosmonaut Valeriy Polyakov will remain aboard Mir. Both Malenchenko, a Russian Air Force cosmonaut, and Musabaev, a Kazakh Space Agency cosmonaut, will be on their first flights. LAUNCHES -------- Pegasus update: the fifth Pegasus flight on May 19 used a four stage version of Pegasus, not the three stage one as I implied last week. The HAPS (Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System) fourth stage has flown once before, on the second Pegasus fight. The first three Pegasus stages fired successfully, and Orbital Sciences is investigating the cause of STEP Mission 2's low perigee. It may have been a guidance problem or a malfunction in the HAPS burn; the problem occurred out of telemetry range so it's not immediately clear what happened. [Source: OSC Public Affairs] Pegasus launch list: Date Type Drop site Payloads 1990 Apr 5 Pegasus Point Arguello W.A. Pegsat, SECS 1991 Jul 17 Pegasus/HAPS Point Arguello W.A. Microsats 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 1993 Feb 9 Pegasus Mayport, FL W.A. SCD-1, Orbcomm CDS 1993 Apr 25 Pegasus Point Arguello W.A. Alexis 1994 May 19 Pegasus/HAPS Point Arugello W.A. STEP Mission 2 (P91-A) Russian Space Forces launched a three stage Tsiklon-3 from Plesetsk on May 25, but a problem seems to have occurred during separation of the second stage from the S5M third stage, and the vehicle and its payload impacted in the Arctic. The payload was referred to as Kosmos-2281, but it is not clear if it will keep this codename - launch failures have never yet been given Kosmos names. The Ukranian Yangel design bureau (now NPO Yuzhnoe) converted the R-36M ICBM (known in the West as the SS-9 Scarp) to a two stage space launcher called Tsiklon-2. (Tsiklon-1 was a cancelled project using the R-16 ICBM). Tsiklon-2 first flew in the late 1960s, and in 1977 the S5M third stage was added to make the Tsiklon-3, which is now the standard light launch vehicle used by the Russians. [Source: Press reports (failure); Plesetsk Press Releases (S5M, Tsiklon details)] Information Wanted ------------------ Well, I have no takers so far on my Redstone/Defender question. This week's questions: 1) Who can tell me which 747 was used on Atlantis' cross country trip? (Rick A, are you there?) 2) Can anyone tell me ANYTHING about the MG-18 (also known as M-2) rocket used as the fourth stage of the Scout X-2M variant? 3) What propulsion system is used by the SPOT 1, 2, 3 satellites, and who builds it? Recent Launches --------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Apr 9 1105 Endeavour Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 20A Space Radar Lab Apr 11 0749 Kosmos-2275 ) Proton/DM2 Baykonur LC81 Navigation 21A Kosmos-2276 ) Navigation 21B Kosmos-2277 ) Navigation 21C Apr 13 0604 GOES 8 Atlas Centaur I Canaveral LC36B Weather 22A Apr 23 0802 Kosmos-2278 Zenit-2 Baykonur LC45 SIGINT 23A Apr 26 0214 Kosmos-2279 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC133 Navsat 24A Apr 28 1714 Kosmos-2280 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Recon 25A May 3 1555 USA-103 Titan Centaur Canaveral LC41 SIGINT 26A May 4 0000 SROSS C2 ASLV Sriharikota Science 27A May 9 0247 MSTI-2 Scout G-1 Vandenberg SLC5 Technology 28A May 19 1703 P91-A (STEP 2) Pegasus/HAPS Point Arguello WA Science 29A May 19 0201 Gorizont 42 Proton/DM2 Baykonur LC81 Comsat 30A May 22 0430 Progress M-23 Soyuz-U Baykonur Cargo 31A May 25 1015 Kosmos-2281 Tsiklon-3 Plesetsk ? FTO Reentries --------- Apr 20 Endeavour Landed at Edwards AFB May 8 SEDS 2 deployer Reentered May 21 Kosmos-2274 Reentered May 23 Progress M-22 Deorbited Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-65 OV-103 Discovery VAB Bay 2 STS-64 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-66 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-68 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-40 VAB Bay 3 STS-68 ML2/ ML3/RSRM-39/ET VAB Bay 1 STS-65 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'