Jonathan's Space Report No. 217 1994 Nov 3 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- Atlantis took from pad 39B at 1659:43 UT on Nov 3, with main engine cutoff at 1708 UT. STS-66 payloads are the Spacelab ATLAS 3 (Igloo plus pallet), the ASTRO-SPAS carrier with CRISTA, and three GAS beam adapters with SSBUV (the Shuttle solar backscatter Ultraviolet spectrometer), ESCAPE II (a solar spectrometer), and ITEPC (a radiation dosimeter). The expected orbit was 295 x 311 km x 57.0 deg. Crew are Donald McMonagle, Curtis Brown, Ellen Ochoa, Joe Tanner, Scott Parazynski, and ESA's Jean-Francois Clervoy, a French citizen. Since ESA's Ulf Merbold is still aboard Mir, this marks the first time that two ESA astronauts have been in space at the same time. Mir --- Malenchenko, Musabaev and Merbold undocked from the rear port of Mir at 1030 UT on Nov 3 and flew out to a distance of 190m. They then engaged the automatic docking mode and came back in to the same docking port with redocking at 1105. This was a special test of the automatic docking system after recent failures. The three cosmonauts are now back on Mir, but will land tomorrow, leaving the rear port free for the next Progress cargo freighter. Viktorenko, Kondakova and Polyakov will remain on the station which is currently in a 393 x 395 km x 51.7 deg orbit. [Thanks to Jim Oberg for passing on details of the redocking]. There's been some confusion lately about which spaceship used which docking port on Mir. Here is a table giving my understanding - please send corrections if you disagree. The two ports in regular use are the rear port on Kvant and the PKhO port on the nose of Mir. PKhO Kvant Progress M-18 to 1993 Jul 3 Progress M-17 to 1993 Aug 11 Soyuz TM-17 1993 Jul 3-Jan 14 Progress M-19 1993 Aug 13- Oct 13 Progress M-20 1993 Oct 13- Nov 21 Soyuz TM-18 1994 Jan 10- Jan 21 Soyuz TM-18 1994 Jan 21-Jul 9 Progress M-21 1994 Jan 30-Mar 23 Progress M-22 1994 Mar 24-May 23 Progress M-23 1994 May 24-Jul 2 Soyuz TM-19 1994 Jul 3-Nov 3 Progress M-24 1994 Sep 2-Oct 4 Soyuz TM-20 1994 Oct 6- Soyuz TM-19 1994 Nov 3-4 (due) Recent Launches --------------- NASA-Goddard's Wind space science satellite was launched on Nov 1. The McDonnell Douglas Delta 7925-10 rocket entered a 186 x 3038 km x 28.7 deg orbit, and the PAM-D third stage ignited to plance Wind in a lunar transfer orbit. Wind carries a set of instruments to study the solar wind, as well as two gamma ray burst detectors. It was built by Martin Marietta Astro Space. Wind will fly past the Moon, study the outer magnetosphere, and eventually be placed in a `halo orbit' around the L1 Lagrange point between the Earth and the Sun. The long awaited Russian geostationary meteorological satellite was launched on Oct 31. Elektro, built by VNII ElektroMekhaniki, flew into orbit aboard a Proton. On Nov 2, Elektro was in a 1441.65 min, 35858 x 35931 km x 1.3 deg orbit over 88.4 deg E, drifiting 1.4 degrees west per day. Nov 1 also saw the launch of another Hughes HS601 communications satellite. The Ariane V69 flight placed Astra 1D in a 217 x 31006 km x 7.0 deg geostationary transfer orbit. Astra 1D is a television satellite for the Luxembourg-based Societe Europeene des Satellites (SES). Kosmos-2293, launched on Nov 2, is an Electronic Intelligence Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite (EORSAT), operated by the Russian Ministry of Defence for naval intelligence. It was placed in a 403 x 417 km x 65.0 deg orbit. Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Sep 30 1116 Endeavour Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 62A Oct 3 2242 Soyuz TM-20 Soyuz-U2 Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 63A Oct 6 0635 Intelsat 703 Atlas Centaur Canaveral LC36B Comsat 64A Oct 8 0107 Solidaridad 2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 65A Thaicom 2 ) Comsat 65B Oct 11 1430 Okean-O1 No. 7 Tsiklon-3 Plesetsk LC32 Rem.sensing 66A Oct 13 1619 Ekspress Proton-K/DM-2-1 Baykonur LC200 Comsat 67A Oct 15 0505 IRS-P2 PSLV Sriharikota Rem.sensing 68A Oct 31 1435? Elektro Proton-K/DM-2-1? Baykonur Weather 69A Nov 1 0037 Astra 1D Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 70A Nov 1 0931 Wind Delta Canaveral LC17B Science 71A Nov 2 0115? Kosmos-2293 Tsiklon-2 Baykonur EORSAT 72A Nov 3 1700 Atlantis Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship Reentries --------- Oct 2 ODERACS A reentered Oct 4 ODERACS B reentered Oct 4 Progress M-24 Deorbited Oct 11 Endeavour Landed at Edwards AFB Oct 12 Magellan Entered Venus atmosphere Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia Palmdale OMDP - OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-63 Feb 2 OV-104 Atlantis LEO STS-66 Nov 3 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-67 Feb 23 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM VAB Bay 3 STS-63 ML2/RSRM-43 VAB Bay 1 STS-67 ML3/ LC-39B 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 | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http:/hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/jsr.html | ! ftp:/sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'