Jonathan's Space Report No. 208 1994 Aug 29 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some catching up to do now I'm back from vacation: Shuttle ------- The attempted launch of STS-68 was terminated with an RSLS Abort at 1053:58 UTC on Aug 18. The High Pressure Oxidizer Turbopump temperature on the third main engine, SSME 2032, registered high after the engine started up and the launch was cancelled at T-2 seconds. This is the closest to launch that a Shuttle flight has ever been aborted. Endeavour was rolled back to the VAB on Aug 24 and its main engines are being replaced. The new target launch date is October 2. Discovery was rolled out to pad 39B a few hours after Endeavour's abort on pad 39A. Its STS-64 mission is still scheduled to be launched on Sep 9. Launches -------- A Molniya-3 communications satellite was launched on Aug 24 into a 600 x 39000 km orbit inclined 62.8 deg. The Progress M-24 cargo ship was launched from Baykonur on Aug 25. It is scheduled to dock with Mir, but the first attempt at docking on Aug 27 was unsuccessful. Titan Centaur TC-11 was launched from Cape Canaveral on Aug 27. The payload is possibly another Advanced JUMPSEAT type electronic intelligence satellite. I hope to have more details on this launch in the next issue. The second H-II launch vehicle, TF-2, successfully orbited its Kiku-6 (Engineering Test Satellite VI) payload on Aug 28. The H-II is the Japanese NASDA agency's heavy lift launch vehicle. Kiku-6 carries the first Japanese made liquid propellant apogee engine, which will place the satellite in geostationary orbit and then separate (nevertheless, it is considered part of the payload rather than a third stage of the launch vehicle). The satellite, to be stationed at 153.8 deg E, is to test technology for 2-tonne class 3-axis stabilized comsats. It carries a nickel-hydrogen battery, and a small ion engine for north-south station keeping. The 3.0 x 2.0 x 2.8 m box shaped satellite has solar panels spanning 30m, and 3.5 and 2.5 m diameter antennae for fixed and mobile communications, together with K and S-band antennae for intersatellite communications as well as a laser communications experiment. Mass is about 1800 kg. Recent Launches --------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jul 1 1224 Soyuz TM-19 Soyuz-U2 Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 36A Jul 3 0800 FSW-2 Chang Zheng 2 Jiuquan Remote sens 37A Jul 6 2358 Kosmos-2282 Proton/DM2 Baykonur LC81 EarlyWarn 38A Jul 8 1643 Columbia ) Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 39A Spacelab IML-2) Jul 8 2305 PAS 2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 40A BS-3N ) Comsat 40B Jul 14 0513 Nadezhda Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC133 Navsat 41A Jul 20 1735 Kosmos-2283 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC43 Recon 42A Jul 21 1055 APStar 1 Chang Zheng 3 Xichang Comsat 43A Jul 29 0929 Kosmos-2284 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Recon 44A Aug 2 2000 Kosmos-2285 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 ? 45A Aug 3 1439 P90-6 APEX Pegasus/NB-52 Point Arguello Technology 46A Aug 3 2357 DBS 2 Atlas IIA Canaveral LC36A Comsat 47A Aug 5 0112 Kosmos-2286 Molniya Plesetsk LC16 Early Warn 48A Aug 10 2305 Brasilsat B1 ) Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 49A Turksat 1B ) Comsat 49B Aug 11 1527 Kosmos-2287 ) Proton-K/DM2 Baykonur Navsat 50A Kosmos-2288 ) Navsat 50B Kosmos-2289 ) Navsat 50C Aug 23 1433? Molniya-3 Molniya Plesetsk Comsat 51A Aug 25 1428? Progress M-24 Soyuz-U? Baykonur Cargo 52A Aug 27 0858 USA-105 Titan Centaur Canaveral LC41 SIGINT? 53A Aug 28 0750 Kiku 6 H-II Tanegashima Comsat Reentries --------- Jul 9 Soyuz TM-18 Landed in Kazakhstan Jul 18 FSW-2 Landed in China Jul 23 Columbia Landed at KSC Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 1 OMDP - OV-103 Discovery LC39B STS-64 Sep 9 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-66 Oct 27 OV-105 Endeavour VAB Bay 1 STS-68 Oct 2 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-40/ET-65/OV-105 VAB Bay 1 STS-68 ML2/RSRM-41/ET-66/OV-103 LC39B STS-64 ML3/ VAB Bay 3? STS-66 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'