Jonathan's Space Report Jul 24 1990 (no.45) ---------------------------------------------------- Launch of Atlantis/STS-38 is scheduled for no earlier than Aug 10. Another leak test will be made this week. Vladimir Solov'yov and Aleksandr Balandin made a 6hr spacewalk on Jul 17 to inspect and repair the loose insulation panels on the Soyuz TM-9 ferry craft. Their attempt to return to Mir ran into problems when they couldn't close the airlock hatch, and they had to return via an emergency airlock. Another EVA this week will attempt to close the hatch. The Soviet-French Gamma 1 astronomy satellite reached orbit on Jul 11. The satellite's launch has been delayed for six years by a series of technical problems. The satellite's telescope observes photons in the energy range 50 MeV to 5 GeV. Meanwhile, the Soviet French Granat satellite launched in Dec 1989, with the Sigma telescope (observing softer 50 keV to 2 MeV gamma rays) has observed the galactic center region. Surprisingly, there appears to be no bright source at the exact center. The first launch of the Chang Zheng (Long March) 2E vehicle was successful on Jul 16. The launch, from Xichang, placed a dummy model of the Aussat satellite in low orbit. An operational launch will carry the real Aussat satellite with perigee and apogee motors attached. The perigee motor will place the satellite in geostationary transfer orbit, and the apogee motor will circularize the orbit at synchronous altitude. The July 16 launch also carried BADR-A, a small experimental satellite developed by Pakistan. CZ-2E is an improved version of the CZ-2, in service since 1974, with strap on motors attached. The Israeli 'Ofeq-2 satellite reentered on July 9. A Soviet satellite was launched into 82 degree orbit on Jul 17; either a civilian Resurs-F satellite or a military recon satellite, I don't have the details yet. (c) 1990 Jonathan McDowell