Jonathan's Space Report No. 204 1994 Jul 19 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- Columbia continues in orbit on the STS-65 mission. Mir --- I now have details of the Progress M-23 flight from Vladimir Agapov. The Progress undocked from the Kvant module at 0946:46 UTC on Jul 2. The braking engine was ignited at 1444 UTC, and the Raduga VBK reentry capsule was ejected at 1455:45 UTC. The Progress burnt up in the atmosphere at 1457. The Raduga deployed its parachute after reentry and landed at 1509 UT at 51 deg 41 min N, 59 deg 21 min E, in the Orenburg region of Russia. Launches -------- The BS-3N satellite successfully fired its Star 30BP apogee motor at 0306:31 UT on Jul 13. It is a Martin Marietta Astro Space Series 3000 satellite (I said GE3000 last week, but that's the old name for the bus). A Nadezhda ("Hope") navigation, search and rescue satellite was launched from Plesetsk on Jul 14. Nadezhda satellites are produced and designed by AO Polyot of Omsk and NPO Prikladnoi Mekhaniki of Krasnoyarsk. They operate in 1000 km orbits at 83 degree inclination. Fireworks on Jupiter -------------------- The fragments of Comet 1993e (P/Shoemaker-Levy 9) have begun to impact Jupiter. Fragment G, which hit on Jul 18, left an impact site larger than the Earth. The impact sites are visible in small telescopes; the 150-year-old 12" Northumberland refractor in Cambridge has contributed central meridian crossing times (these are the most important things for amateurs to note, as the longitudes and rotation periods of the individual sites are not all well determined). Predicted Approximate observed impact times (UTC) A Jul 16.833 Jul 16.844 B Jul 17.121 Jul 17.122 C Jul 17.293 Jul 17.302 D Jul 17.491 Jul 17.496 E Jul 17.629 Jul 17.637 F Jul 18.020 Jul 18.060 G Jul 18.311 Jul 18.315 H Jul 18.810 Jul 18.813 K Jul 19.430 Jul 19.434 L Jul 19.923 Recent Launches --------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jun 7 0720 Kosmos-2281 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC16 Recon 32A Jun 14 1605 Foton No. 9 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC43 Materials 33A Jun 17 0707 Intelsat 702 ) Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 34A STRV 1 ) Technology 34B STRV 2 ) Technology 34C Jun 24 1350 UHF F/O F3 Atlas I Centaur Canaveral LC36B Comsat 35A Jun 27 2115 STEP 1 Pegasus XL Point Arguello Science FTO Jul 1 1224 Soyuz TM-19 Soyuz-U2 Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 36A Jul 3 0804? 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 Not So Recent Launches ---------------------- Saturn SA-506 was launched from LC39A at Cape Kennedy on 1969 Jul 16 at 1332 UTC inserting the S-IVB-506 third stage and attached Apollo 11 spacecraft into a 188 x 192 km x 32.6 deg Earth orbit. At 1616 the S-IVB reignited for the TLI burn; Apollo CSM 107 separated at 1649, completed the transposition and docking maneuver at 1656, and separated with the attached Lunar Module 5 at 1749. Lunar orbit insertion of the CSM 107/ LM 5 complex occurred at 1721 on Jul 19. On Jul 20, Apollo 11 Commander Neil A. Armstrong and LM Pilot Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. transferred to LM 5, leaving CM Pilot Michael Collins in the CSM. At 1745 on Jul 20, LM 5 (callsign "Eagle") undocked from the CSM 107 (callsign "Columbia") in a 100 x 122 km lunar orbit. The Descent Orbit Insertion burn at 1908 lowered LM 5's orbit to 16 x 106 km. At 2005 the Powered Descent Initiation burn was begun, and at 1969 Jul 20 d 20 h 17 m 40 s UTC the spaceship LM 5 "Eagle" carrying astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin landed at Tranquility Base, Statio Tranquillitatis (00 deg 41 ' 15 " N 23 deg 26 ' 00 " E) in the Mare Tranquillitatis on Luna. Exploration of the Tranquility Base area was carried out from 0227 to 0458 on Jul 21 by Armstrong (in spacesuit A7L56) and Aldrin (in suit A7L77). LM 5 was again depressurized from 0740 to 0745? for an equipment dump. LM 5's ascent stage was launched from the descent stage at 1754 on Jul 21 and reached a 17 x 84 km lunar orbit at 1801. The LM 5 ascent stage docked with CSM 107 at 2135 on Jul 21. After the crew and cargo were transferred, LM 5 was undocked at 2342. CSM 107 fired its SPS engine at 0455 for the transearth injection burn. The SM-107 service module was jettisoned at 1621 on Jul 24 and the CM began reentry at 1635. At 1650 on Jul 24 the CM-107 "Columbia" landed at 13 deg 30 ' N 169 deg 15 ' W in the Pacific Ocean, and was recovered by the carrier USS Hornet. Meanwhile, flight 5L (the second test launch) of the N-1 lunar launch vehicle resulted in a massive explosion at 2018 on 1969 Jul 3, damaging the N-1 launch pad at Baykonur. Luna E-8-5 sample return probe no. 401 was launched by Proton-K at 0255 on 1969 Jul 13 from Baykonur and given the code name Luna-15. Luna-15 reached lunar orbit at 1000 on 1969 Jul 17 but the attempted landing at 1552 UT on 1969 Jul 21 resulted in destruction of the spacecraft on impact at 17 N 60 E. Reentries --------- Jun 3 Tiros VII Reentered Jul 2 Progress M-23 Landed in Russia Jul 2 Foton No. 9 Landed in Kazakhstan Jul 9 Soyuz TM-18 Landed in Kazakhstan Jul 18? FSW-2 Landed in China? Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia LEO STS-65 OV-103 Discovery OPF 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/ET-65 VAB Bay 3 STS-68 ML2/RSRM-41 VAB Bay 1 STS-64 ML3/ LC39A 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 | | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'