Jonathan's Space Report No. 123 1992 Aug 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mir ---- The Progress M-13 cargo ship was undocked from Mir's front port on Jul 24. Soyuz TM-15 was launched at 0608 UTC on Jul 27 carrying Russian astronauts Solov'yov and Avdeev and French astronaut Tognini into a 190 x 200 km orbit inclined 51.6 deg. Later on Jul 27 it moved to a 223 x 343 km orbit, and on Jul 28 it docked with Mir in its 405 x 410 km orbit. The Mir complex now consists of Mir, the Kvant module, the Kvant-2 and Kristall axial modules, and the Soyuz TM-14 and Soyuz TM-15 ferry craft. Crew are Aleksandr Viktorenko, Aleksandr Kaleri, Anatoli Solov'yov, Sergey Avdeev, and Michel Tognini. Shuttle Mission STS-46 ------------------------ Crew of mission STS-46 are Loren Shriver, Andy Allen, Jeff Hoffman, Marsha Ivins, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Claude Nicollier, and Franco Malerba. Malerba is a payload specialist for the Italian Space Agency, Nicollier is an ESA astronaut seconded to NASA as a mission specialist. Cargo of STS-46 is the Tethered Satellite, the EOIM experiment, the EURECA satellite, and some GAS can experiments. Atlantis was launched at 1357 UTC on Jul 31 from LC 39B at Kennedy Space Center into a 422 x 431 km orbit inclined 28.5 degrees. The ESA retrievable experiment carrier EURECA was deployed by the RMS arm at 0707 UTC on Aug 2, after a 1 day delay due to problems with the payload. These problems continued with the first EURECA orbit raising burn being aborted at 1236 UTC due to communications dropouts. EURECA was left in a 430 x 440 km orbit at 28.5 degrees. At around 1100 UTC on Aug 3 Atlantis lowered its orbit to 294 x 301 km for TSS operations. The TSS deploy boom was extended by around 1630 UTC on Aug 4. Problems were encountered separating the umbilicals from the TSS satellite which delayed the flyaway (reeling out of the satellite on its tether). Initial flyaway was attempted at 2121 UTC but aborted after only 10 cm of motion. Flyaway was resumed at 2251 UTC Aug 4, but was suspended overnight at a distance of a few hundred metres because of a snag in the tether reel. So far the TSS satellite and tether dynamics seem to be stable. 12 humans are now in orbit, equalling the current record. They include natives of the USA, Russia, Latvia, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Costa Rica. Launches --------- Ariane V51 was launched on 1992 Jul 9 at 2242 UTC. Payloads were the Indian Space Research Organization's comsat Insat IIA, and the European Telecommunication Satellite Organization's Eutelsat II F-4, an Aerospatiale Spacebus 100 design. Both used liquid apogee motors to enter geostationary orbit. On Jul 28 Insat IIA was at 73 deg E drifting 0.6 deg W per day. On Jul 29 Eutelsat II F-4 was on station at 8.0 deg E. A Ukranian Tsiklon rocket launched six small comm relay satellites from the Russian Plesetsk spaceport on Jul 13 about 1800 UTC. Kosmos-2197, Kosmos-2198, Kosmos-2199, Kosmos-2200, Kosmos-2201, and Kosmos-2202 were built by NPO Prikladnoi Mekhaniki and placed in circular 1400 km orbits at 82 deg inclination. Two of the satellites are test versions of the commercial Gonets variant, the remainder are the standard military communications version. This is the first launch of the Tsiklon since the fall of the Soviet Union. Two Proton heavy launch vehicles were launched in July from Baykonur; a Jul 14 launch orbited a Gorizont communications satellite, and a Jul 29 launch orbited three GLONASS navigation satellites (probably called Kosmos-2204, 2205 and 2206). On Jul 29 the Gorizont was on station at 11.7 deg W. Both Gorizont and GLONASS satellites are built by NPO Prikladnoi Mekhaniki. The Japanese ISAS space agency's GEOTAIL magnetospheric research probe was launched by a McDonnell Douglas Delta 6925 on Jul 24 from Cape Canaveral. This is the first time ISAS has used a non-Japanese launch vehicle for one of its spacecraft. The probe was inserted into an initial 184 km by 341000 km orbit inclined 28 degrees. It is due to make its first lunar swingby on Sep 8. The spacecraft carries seven instruments to study plasmas and fields. A small NASA experiment, the DUVE Diffuse Ultraviolet Experiment to study the interstellar medium, was carried as a piggyback payload on the Delta second stage of the Geotail launch. It was placed in a 217 x 1482 km orbit inclined 27 degrees. An imaging spy satellite, Kosmos-2203, was launched by Soyuz from Plesetsk on Jul 24. It replaces Kosmos-2186 and is in a 180 x 350 km orbit at 62.8 degrees. A remote sensing satellite, probably in the Resurs-F series, was launched by Soyuz from Plesetsk on Jul 30 around 1100 UTC. Reentries ---------- The Resurs-F remote sensing satellite launched on Jun 23 landed Jul 9 after 16 days in orbit. It was the old Resurs-F1 model, the first such to fly this year. Visual observers report the 8th KH-11 KENNAN spy satellite has not been observed since June and has probably been deorbited, according to the RAE. (I don't see the CSS N2L notes anymore, anyone willing to email them to me or let me know an ftp site?) The Indian Space Research Organization's SROSS 3 satellite reentered on Jul 14, not in June as reported in JSR 120. (Space Command confused the payload and the rocket final stage). The Kosmos-2186 spy satellite reentered on Jul 24. Biographies ------------ Solov'yov, Anatoli Yakovlevich Born 1948 Jan 16 in Riga, Latvia (Russian nationality) Komandir, Soyuz TM-5 (1988), Soyuz TM-9 (1990), Soyuz TM-15 (1992) Avdeev, Sergey V. Born 1956 Jan 1 in Russia Bortinzhener, Soyuz TM-15 (1992) Tognini, Michel Born 1949 Sep 30 in France Kosmonavt-issledovatel', Soyuz TM-15 (1992) Shriver, Loren James Born 1944 Sep 23, Iowa Pilot, STS 51-C (1985); Commander STS-31R (1990), STS-46 (1992) Allen, Andrew M Born 1955 Aug 4, Pennsylvania Pilot, STS-46 (1992) Hoffmann, Jeffrey Alan Born 1944 Nov 2, NY Mission Specialist, STS 51-D (1985); STS-35 (1990); Payload Commander, STS-46 (1992) Ivins, Marsha Sue Born 1951 Apr 15, Maryland Mission Specialist, STS-32R (1990), STS-46 (1992) Chang-Diaz, Franklin Ramon Born 1950 Apr 5, Costa Rica (naturalized as US citizen) Mission specialist, STS 61-C (1986), STS-34 (1989), STS-46 (1992) Nicollier, Claude Born 1944 Sep 2, Switzerland ESA Mission Specialist, STS-46 (1992) Malerba, Franco Born 1946, Italy Payload Specialist, STS-46 (1992) Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 1 STS-52 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 OMDP OV-104 Atlantis LEO STS-46 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 3 STS-47 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/ Refurbishment area ML2/STS-47/ET VAB Bay 3 ML3/STS-52 VAB Bay 1 Thanks to Ed O'Grady, Rex Hall and Phillip Clark for information used in preparing this issue. .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'