Jonathan's Space Report No. 329 1997 Aug 8 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- Soyuz TM-26 was launched at 1536 UTC on Aug 5 from Kazakstan. Crew are Anatoliy Solov'yov and Pavel Vinogradov. On Aug 6 it was in a 241 x 279 km x 51.6 deg orbit compared with Mir's 386 x 392 km x 51.6 deg orbit. The ship docked with Mir's Kvant module at 1702 UTC on Aug 7. The crew took over manual control in the final phase, which is not uncommon. Progress M-35 undocked from Mir at 1146 UTC on Aug 6 to clear the docking port. Soyuz TM-25 remains at the front docking port. Discovery (OV-103) was launched at 1441:00 UTC on Aug 7 from Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-85. It entered a 289 x 300 km x 57.0 deg orbit. Crew of Discovery are Curt Brown (commander), Kent Rominger (pilot), Jan Davis (payload commander), Bob Curbeam, Stephen Robinson and Bjarni Tryggvason (mission specialists). Tryggvason is a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, and the first person born in Iceland to fly in space. Discovery's payload bay contains the following cargoes: Bay 1-2: External Airlock Bay 5: MPESS (Multi Purpose Experiment Support Structure) with the MFD (Manipulator Flight Demonstration) payload from the Japanese space agency. This features tests of a 'robot hand' to go on the end of the robot arm being developed for the Japanese space station module. Bay 6 Port sidewall: A small carrier with the ITEPC radiation dose counter. Bay 7: MPESS with the TAS-01 payload (Technology Applications and Science) from NASA-Goddard's Hitchhiker-M program. TAS-01 has a bunch of GAS cans with science experiments, including the second flight of the Shuttle Laser Altimeter and an instrument to measure the absolute bolometric flux of the Sun. Bay 9: ASTRO-SPAS, a free flying platform built by Germany's DASA, carrying the CRISTA-SPAS atmospheric science payload on its second mission. CRISTA-SPAS was deployed by the RMS arm at 2227 UTC on Aug 7. Bay 11 Port sidewall: a small carrier with the ERPCL transmitter/receiver which communicates with SPAS during its flight. Bay 12: MPESS with the IEH-2 Hitchhiker payload from Goddard. The International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker is a joint NASA-Italian astronomy payload. Its two main instruments are the UVSTAR ultraviolet spectrograph and the SEH solar extreme ultraviolet instrument. The MPESS also carries the GLO-5 and GLO-6 airglow studies and the Data-Chaser technology experiment. UVSTAR's main objective is to study the extreme UV emissions from the Io plasma torus around Jupiter. Bay 13 Starboard sidewall: GABA (GAS Beam Adapter) with two GAS experiment cans, G-572 and G-745. G-572 has experiments from Bellermine College and Utah State, and G-745 has student experiments from Mayo High School. Wendy Lawrence has been pulled off the STS-86 crew and replaced by David Wolf, who will now be the person replacing Mike Foale on Mir. Wolf, unlike Lawrence, is trained in the Orlan EVA suit and so could support spacewalks to repair the Spektr module. Recent Launches --------------- A GPS satellite was launched on Jul 23. I understand this is IIR satellite 3, or Navstar SVN 43. It is the second IIR satellite to be launched, and the first to reach orbit successfully. The Delta second stage entered a 196 x 1339 km x 37.7 deg orbit; the PAM-D third stage reached 187 x 20363 km x 39 deg and separated from the GPS. The GPS's internal Thiokol Star 37 apogee motor fired by Jul 25 to place SVN 43 in a 19876 x 20223 km x 54.9 deg operating orbit; on board thrusters will make the final adjustments. The Superbird C satellite was launched on Jul 28 by a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS. The satellite is an HS-601 comsat built by Hughes for Space Communications Co. of Japan. The Atlas used the supersynchronous transfer orbit technique again, delivering Superbird into a 333 x 91062 km x 25.3 deg highly eccentric orbit. The onboard Marquardt R-4D-12 engine will be used to lower the apogee and raise perigee to reach a circular geostationary orbit. Orbital Sciences launched a Pegasus XL on Aug 1, placing the OrbView-2 satellite in orbit for their OrbImage subsidiary. Orbview-2, formerly known as SeaStar, will provide oceanographic data under contract from NASA. The L-1011 carrier plane took off from Vandenberg at around 1915 UTC and dropped the rocket over the Pacific at 2020 UTC. The satellite carries the SeaWIFS imaging sensor. Initial orbit of Orbview-2 was 294 x 311 km x 98.3 deg. The latest Iridium satellites have started to raise their orbits from their initial 620 x 650 km ones. Jul 28 Aug 6 SV015 695 x 705 773 x 780 x 86.4 SV017 667 x 671 773 x 780 x 86.4 SV018 665 x 673 773 x 779 x 86.4 SV020 667 x 671 772 x 782 x 86.4 SV021 627 x 645 626 x 656 x 86.3 This confirms that SV021 is the failed satellite, which has remained in its initial orbit. The Delta second stage lowered its orbit after dispensing the satellites and is in a 266 x 620 km orbit. An Ariane 44P, flight V98, was launched on Aug 8 from Kourou carrying a Space Systems/Loral FS-1300 class satellite, PAS-6. PAS 6 is owned by Panamsat (which recently merged with Hughes Galaxy) and will provide direct broadcast services to South America. Launch mass is 3420 kg, dry mass is 1285 kg,and payload includes 36 Ku-band transponders. The Ariane placed its payload in a 181 x 37143 km x 7.1 deg transfer orbit. PAS 5 will be launched later this month by a Proton from Baykonur. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jun 3 2321 Inmarsat 3 F4) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 27A Insat 2D ) Comsat 27B Jun 6 1757 Kosmos-2344 Proton-K/DM-2M Baykonur LC200 Recon? 28A Jun 10 1201 FY-2 Chang Zheng 3 Xichang Weather 29A Jun 18 1402 Iridium SV009 ) Proton-K/DM-5 Baykonur Comsat 30D Iridium SV010 ) Comsat 30C Iridium SV011 ) Comsat 30G Iridium SV012 ) Comsat 30B Iridium SV013 ) Comsat 30E Iridium SV014 ) Comsat 30A Iridium SV016 ) Comsat 30F Jun 25 2344 Intelsat 802 Ariane 44P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 31A Jul 1 1802 Columbia ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 32A Spacelab MSL-1R ) Jul 5 0411 Progress M-35 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 33A Jul 6 0600 Sojourner - Sagan Station, Mars Rover Jul 9 1304 Iridium SV015 ) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 34A Iridium SV017 ) Comsat 34B Iridium SV018 ) Comsat 34C Iridium SV020 ) Comsat 34D Iridium SV021 ) Comsat 34E Jul 23 0343 GPS SVN 43 Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17A Navsat 35A Jul 28 0115 Superbird C Atlas IIAS Canaveral LC36B Comsat 36A Aug 1 2020 OrbView 2 Pegasus XL Vandenberg Remote sen.37A Aug 5 1536 Soyuz TM-26 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 38A Aug 7 1441 Discovery Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 39A Aug 7 2227 CRISTA-SPAS OV-103,LEO Remote sen.39B Aug 8 0646 PAS 6 Ariane 4 Kourou ELA2 Comsat 40A Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-87 Nov 19 OV-103 Discovery LC39A STS-85 Aug 7 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-86 Sep 18 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-89 Jan 15 MLP/SRB/ET/OV stacks MLP1/ MLP2/RSRM-61 VAB Bay 1? STS-86 MLP3/RSRM-57/ET-87/OV-103 LC39A STS-85 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | | Back issues: ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'