Jonathan's Space Report Apr 24 1991 (no.72) ---------------------------------------------------- The launch of STS-39/Discovery is scheduled for April 28, pending repairs to a main engine sensor which scrubbed the Apr 23 launch attempt. Viktor Afanas'ev and Musa Manarov continue in orbit aboard the Mir/Kvant/Kvant-2/Kristall/Soyuz TM-11/Progress M-7 complex. On Apr 12 and Apr 14 the engine of Progress M-7 was used to raise the complex orbit from 360x377 km to 370x382 km. The second commercial Atlas I Centaur launch on Apr 18 was a failure. This was particularly unfortunate as the payload was the GE/NHK (General Electric/ Nippon Hoso Kyokai Japanese Broadcasting Corp) BS-3H, a replacement for the BS-2X spacecraft which fell in the Atlantic due to an Ariane failure, and was in turn a replacement for BS-2 spacecraft in orbit which have been suffering equipment failures. The Atlas was successful, but one of the two RL-10 engines on the upper Centaur AC-70 stage failed to ignite. This is the first Centaur failure since AC-62 in Jun 1984. The Centaur and payload were destroyed by the range safety officer. A navigation satellite, probably Kosmos-2142, was launched by Kosmos R-14 rocket on Apr 16. ___________________________________ |Current STS status: | |Orbiters | | | |OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 1 | |OV-103 Discovery LC39A | |OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 2 | | | |ML/ET/SRB stacks | | | |ML1 | |ML2/STS-39/ET/OV-103 LC39A | |ML3/STS-40/ET VAB Bay 3 | ----------------------------------- 10 years ago: 25 Apr 1981. The Kosmos-1267 spaceship was launched from Baykonur. Kosmos-1267 consisted of two spacecraft, a prototype Salyut module of the Kvant-2/Kristall type now docked to Mir, and a prototype piloted spaceship with room for two cosmonauts (it was cancelled before being used with a crew); the reusable spaceship capsule was on its second flight, the first flight being Kosmos-929 in 1977. The capsule separated and was recovered after 29 days in space; the next month the Salyut module docked with the Salyut-6 space station. It remained attached to the station until their combined reentry in July 1982. 20 years ago: 24 Apr 1971 The Soyuz-10 spaceship with three crewmembers docked with the Salyut laboratory after launch late on Apr 22. The cosmonauts were unable to attain a tight docking seal and had to undock and return to Earth without opening the hatch. 30 years ago: 25 Apr 1961. The Mercury-Atlas-3 flight was intended as the first unpiloted orbital test flight of the Mercury spacecraft. The Atlas exploded at only 7 km altitude. On 27 Apr, the S-15 scientific satellite reached orbit and was renamed Explorer 11. Explorer 11 was the first gamma ray astronomy satellite, the distant ancestor of GRO; it was not sensitive enough to detect any sources. (c) 1991 Jonathan McDowell. Information in this report is obtained from public sources and does not reflect the official views of NASA. .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (205)544-7724 | | Space Science Lab ES65 | uucp: | | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center | bitnet : | | Huntsville AL 35812 | inter : mcdowell@xanth.msfc.nasa.gov | | USA | span : ssl::mcdowell | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'