Jonathan's Space Report No. 265 1995 Nov 24 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- The STS-74 second Mir docking mission is complete. Atlantis delivered the Docking Module to the Mir complex as well as transferring 324 kg of equipment and 640 kg of supplies to the complex and picking up 370 kg of NASA, Russian and European equipment for return to Earth. Atlantis undocked from Mir on Nov 18 at 0816 UT. At 0832 UT, Atlantis had backed away to 120 m and began a flyaround. After two loops around Mir, Atlantis fired its engines for a separation burn at 1004 UT. The 316GK docking module remains attached to the Mir complex. Later on Nov 18 Atlantis lowered its orbit from 92.39 min, 388 x 395 km x 51.6 deg to 91.39 min, 337 x 348 km x 51.6 deg for operations with the GLO-4 experiment. Atlantis landed on Nov 20. The payload bay doors were closed at about 1320 UTC. The OMS engines ignited for the deorbit burn at 1558 UTC and fired for 3 min 52 sec. After entry interface at 1630, the spacecraft header for Florida. The landing gear was lowered at 1701:09 and main gear touchdown was at 1701:27 UT on runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center. The nose gear touched down at 1701:37 and Atlantis came to a stop at 1702:24. Mission duration was 8 days 4 hours 31 min. The next Shuttle mission is STS-72, which will use orbiter OV-105 (Endeavour). The mission will retrieve the Japanese Space Flyer Unit satellite and the crew will carry out two spacewalks. The payload bay will contain: - An MPESS bridge carrying the SLA-1/GAS Hitchhiker-M payload, with 7 GAS canisters. The canisters are: SLA-1 Shuttle Laser Altimeter canister; ASC Altimeter Support Canister; G-342 (USAF Academy), to measure dynamics of a vibrating beam; G-459 (Soc. Japanese Aerospace Companies), microgravity effects on protein crystals; G-740 (NASA-LeRC), physics of fluids in microgravity, and GBP-1, a GAS ballast payload with a particle collection device on top. The SLA-1 experiment is part of the Mission to Planet Earth and will study the environmental and topographic information obtainable from a laser altimeter for possible application on later missions. - An MPESS type bridge, the Spartan Flight Support Structure, carrying the Spartan 206 (OAST-Flyer) satellite which will be released and retrieved. - A GAS beam adapter on the bay wall with two canisters carrying the SSBUV atmospheric ozone spectrometer on its 8th mission. - probably a GAS beam or APC carrier on the bay wall to support some kind of EVA hardware for the EDFT-3 spacewalks. Mir --- EO-20 crew Yuriy Gidzenko, Sergey Avdeev and Thomas Reiter remain aboard the Mir complex. Its current configuration has the Kvant module docked to the base block +X rear port, and three modules docked at the ports on the transfer compartment: Spektr at -Y, Kvant-2 at +Y, and Kristall at -Z, with the 316GK Docking Module attached to the end of Kristall. The Progress M-29 cargo ferry is docked at the rear of Kvant (+X), while the Soyuz TM-22 transport ship is docked at the front of Mir (-X). Launch of the Progress M-30 cargo ferry is expected on December 15; Soyuz TM-23 will be launched on 21 Feb, the 77KSI Priroda module on Mar 10, the Progress M-31 ferry on Apr 1, Progress M-32 on Jun 1, and Soyuz TM-24 on Jul 6. Shameless Plug -------------- Readers of JSR may be interested to know that the latest issue of CSPACE PRESS's magazine on the history of spaceflight, QUEST, contains an article by me outlining the history of US reconnaissance satellite programs, with a listing of all known US imaging recon sat flights, as well as an article by Dwayne Day on the origins of the CORONA program. The next issue will contain the second part of my article, covering signals intelligence and early warning satellites. You can get QUEST from CSPACE, PO Box 9331, Grand Rapids, MI 49509-0331, for $19.95 a year ($35.00 overseas air mail). Meanwhile, following the flight of the final Resurs-F (JSR 258, 262) the Russian magazine Novosti Kosmonavtiki has published a remarkable article by M. Tarasenko and V. Agapov on the Resurs-F program, including a detailed and complete list of launches with spacecraft serial numbers and launch pads, and a discussion of the different Resurs-F variants. (Nov. Kos. 1995 No. 20, from Videocosmos, cosmos@space.accessnet.ru). Recent Launches -------------- The second Gals direct broadcast TV satellite was launched on Nov 17 by a Proton from Baykonur. The Proton probably used the new DM2M (11S861-01) upper stage. According to Ron Baalke's Space Calendar, the satellite has been bought by the Land Group, a Chinese company. Gals satellites are built by NPO Prikladnoi Mekhaniki. On Nov 19, Gals 2 was at 88 deg E drifting 1 deg W per day in a 1441.7 min, 35764 x 36026 km x 0.2 deg orbit. (Does anyone have more details on the Land Group and their purchase of Gals satellites?) The Kosmos-2291 Geizer-class comsat has reached its new location at 14.7W, presumably backing up Kosmos-2172 at 13.3W. In October Kosmos-2291 was replaced at 80E by the new Kosmos-2319 satellite and began a slow drift to its new location. Geizer satellites relay telecommunications for the Russian Ministry of Defence. ESA's Infrared Space Observatory raised its perigee in a 111 min burn on Nov 19. The orbit was altered from 500 x 71577 km x 5.2 deg to 1030 x 71606 km x 5.2 deg. A second burn to lower the apogee is expected on Nov 24. Initial checks of the ISOPHOT instrument were successful. The US Navy's UHF F6 circularized its orbit on Oct 29 and by Nov 6 was on station at 171W over the Pacific. The new SES European commercial television satellite Astra 1E is now at 14.7E. The European Meteorological Satellite Organization's Meteosat 4 weather satellite appears to have been retired. It raised its orbit on Nov 8 out of the geostationary ring at 10 deg E to a storage orbit of 1482.9 min, 36618 x 36776 km x 1.5 deg. Hughes Communications' Galaxy 3 satellite may also have been retired (can anyone confirm this?) Orbital data from Space Command indicate it moved 120 km up out of geostationary orbit into a 1442.4 min period drift orbit around Oct 3; an orbit released on Oct 20 showing it still on station is inconsistent with more recent data. In late October SBS 6 was moved from 95W to 74W, joining Galaxy 6. Between Nov 13 and Nov 20 the Kosmos-2320 recon satellite raised its orbit from 231 x 274 km to 239 x 300 km in a standard orbit maintenance burn. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Oct 6 0323 Kosmos-2321 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Navsat 52A Oct 8 1851 Progress M-29 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 53A Oct 11 1626 Luch-1 Proton-K/DM2M Baykonur Data Relay 54A Oct 19 0038 Astra 1E Ariane 42L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 55A Oct 20 1353 Columbia ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 56A Spacelab USML-2) Oct 22 0800 UHF F6 Atlas II Canaveral LC36 Comsat 57A Oct 23 2203 Meteor Conestoga 1620 Wallops LA0 Micrograv FTO Oct 31 2019 Kosmos-2322 Zenit-2 Baykonur LC45L Sigint 58A Nov 4 1422 Radarsat ) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2 Rem sensing 59A SURFSAT ) 59B Nov 6 0515 Milstar DFS 2 Titan 4 Centaur Canaveral LC40 Comsat 60A Nov 12 1230 Atlantis ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 61A Docking Module ) Nov 17 0120 ISO Ariane 44P Kourou ELA2 Astronomy 62A Nov 17 1430? Gals-2 Proton-K/DM2M Baykonur Comsat 63A Reentries --------- Oct 26 Resurs-F2 Landed in Russia Nov 5 Columbia Landed at KSC Nov 20 Atlantis Landed at KSC Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-75 Feb 22 OV-103 Discovery Palmdale OMDP OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 1 STS-76 Mar 21 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 3 STS-72 Jan 11 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-52/ET-75 VAB STS-72 ML2/ ML3/ .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | | ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'