The Progress M-27 spacecraft, carrying hundreds of kilograms of food and supplies, docked with the Russian space station Mir early Wednesday morning (April 12), thirty-four years to the day after Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.
The spacecraft was launched Sunday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After spending over two days matching orbits with the Russian space station, the Progress spacecraft docked automatically on the first attempt.
The spacecraft carried 400 kg (880 lb) of food for cosmonauts Vladmir Dezhurov and Gennady Strekalov and American astronaut Norman Thagard. The spacecraft also carried several hundred kilograms of supplies, 25 kg (55 lb) of notes and other papers, and some lollipops.
The successful shipment permits the crew aboard Mir to continue their historic mission. The three men will stay aboard Mir until June, when the shuttle Atlantis will dock with the station and replace the three with two Russian cosmonauts.
Israel launched its first operational surveillance satellite last Wednesday (April 5), giving the country the ability to quickly obtain high-resolution images of its neighboring countries.
A Shavit rocket launched the 225-kg (495-lb) Ofeq-3 satellite from Palamchim Air Force Base south of Tel Aviv. The spacecraft was placed into an orbit 300 to 700 km (185 to 435 miles) above the Earth with an inclination of 37 degrees. This orbit permits the spacecraft to pass over Iran, Iraq, and Syria several times each day. The spacecraft orbits from east to west, as opposed to the traditional west to east, as Israel can only safely launch rockets to the west, over the Mediterranean Sea.
The Ofeq-3 spacecraft is the culmination of an Israeli program to provide the nation with its own satellite reconnaissance program. In the past, the United States had provided Israel with satellite imagery, but access to this data was believed to be restricted after Israel used it to coordinate the bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981. Israel launched two experimental satellites, Ofeq-1 and Ofeq-2, in 1988 and 1990 respectively, to test the technology needed for a spysat.
An Atlas 2 rocket placed a communications satellite into orbit last Friday (April 7) that will for the first time permit cellular phone users throughout North America, whether in a large city or in the wilderness, to place and receive phone calls at a far smaller cost that current satellite phone technologies.
The satellite, named MSAT, was launched from Cape Canaveral on the evening of April 7. The spacecraft was flawlessly placed in its geosynchronous orbit shortly thereafter. The launch was the eighteenth for the new aerospace conglomerate Lockheed Martin.
American Mobile Satellite Corporation, the owner of MSAT, said that the satellite is the first of its kind that allows cellular phone users to stay in touch throughout North America. The system will require a special phone, with an estimated cost of $1,500, but will offer rates as low as $0.75 per minute. To achieve the same level of connectivity before MSAT required a briefcase-sized satellite phone, which cost $35,000 and charge rates of $10 per minute.
The $450-million satellite was built by Hughes and Spar Aerospace. It is the first of two satellites the company plans to launch.
The first two satellites in Orbital Communications Corporation's Orbcomm series, which will provide tracking and communications services in North America, were successfully launched on a Pegasus last Monday (April 3), but problems with one of the satellites may keep it from entering service.
One of the satellites, Orbcomm 2, has developed a problem with its uplink receiver, which is used to receive commands from the ground. Unless this problem is corrected, it is unlikely that the satellite can function as a part of the Orbcomm constellation. The other satellite, Orbcomm 1, was functioning normally after a section of corrupted software in its GPS receiver was reloaded.
The two satellites, along with a third small scientific satellite, were launched on a Pegasus off the coast of California. The launch was the first successful launch from Orbital Science Corporation's L-1011 aircraft.
The satellites are the first in what will comprise a constellation of several dozen small satellites in low Earth orbit. These satellites will be used in a variety of largely non-voice communications programs, such as tracking commercial trucks, monitoring pipelines, and transmitting data received from remote environmental sensors on the ground. Orbital Communications Corporation is a subsidiary of Orbital Sciences Corporation.
Astronaut Shannon Lucid has been selected to be the second American astronaut to stay aboard the Mir space station, as part of the continuing international space station program. Navy Commander Jerry Linenger was also selected to be the third American to stay aboard Mir, with retired Air Force Colonel John Blaha and astronaut Scott Parazynski as the backups to Lucid and Linenger.
Lucid is scheduled stay aboard Mir early in 1996, while Linenger will be aboard Mir later that year. The durations of their stays were not announced. Both astronauts will be ferried to and from the space station from the space shuttle Atlantis.
The 52-year-old Lucid is a veteran of four shuttle missions between 1985 and 1993. She has a Ph.D in biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma. The 40-year-old Linenger has flown on the shuttle once, on the STS-64 mission in September 1994. He has a doctorate in medicine from Wayne State University and a Ph.D in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina.
CTA Incorporated has selected the Lockheed Launch Vehicle (LLV) to launch the NASA-funded Clark remote sensing satellite in 1996. The launch will be the second use of the LLV by the Rockville, Maryland, company.
The LLV-1 rocket will launch the 285-kg (630-lb) spacecraft into a 510-km (320-mi) sun-synchronous polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Once in orbit, the Clark spacecraft (of Lewis and Clark fame) will use advanced remote-sensing instruments to study changes in the Earth's environment.
Clark, and its sister spacecraft Lewis, are among the first spacecraft being developed by NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative. The program calls for small, inexpensive spacecraft built quickly using the latest in technology. The technology tested by these spacecraft can then be used in larger, more expensive missions.
The Lewis spacecraft is being developed by the TRW Space and Electronics Group, and will also be launched on an LLV. The CTA-built GEMStar(r) communications satellite will be launched into a near-polar orbit later this year by an LLV.
In a move widely seen as an effort to placate international partners, House Science Committee chairman Robert Walker has introduced legislation that would authorize funding for Space Station Alpha for the remainder of its construction.
Walker (R-PA) introduced legislation last week that would authorize $13.2 billion dollars for construction of the space station between now and 2002. The $13.2 billion dollar figure comes from the $17.4 billion cap placed on the project by President Clinton minus two $2.1 billion appropriations already made for the project.
Although it is unlikely that the appropriation will pass in both houses of Congress, especially since no companion bill has been introduced in the Senate, approval of the authorization in the House would be seen as a victory for space station proponents, who have struggled in recent years to support the program. It is also believed that this authorization would be seen by the station's international partners as a sign that NASA and Congress are serious about completing the station.
The United States and the Ukraine are discussing a bilateral space launch trade agreement what would permit U.S. companies to use Ukranian rockets, such as the Zenit and Cyclone. At least one multinational venture using these rockets is being planned.
Such an agreement would pave the way for Boeing to proceed with its Sea Launch project, which would use Zenits launched from offshore platforms in the Pacific. Boeing is currently working with SC Energia and NPO Yushnoye in the former Soviet Union and Norweigan shipbuilding conglomerate Kvaerner A/S on the project.
Under the current Sea Launch proposal, mobile launch platforms would be based off the coast of California. Before a launch, a Zenit rocket and payload would be brought aboard and the launch platform would be towed south to the Equator, where a launch would gain the maximum benefit from the Earth's rotation.
A project to build the world's largest telescope in Chile is threatened with cancellation unless European and Chilean officials can resolve a dispute over the land on which the telescope is being constructed.
The family which claims ownership of Cerro Paranal, the mountaintop where the telescope is being built, has filed suit against the European Southern Observatory (ESO), claiming the land was illegally seized by the Chilean government in 1988 and given to ESO. ESO claims to be immune to lawsuits in Chilean courts and, according to the Chilean Foreign Minister, may scrap the project if the lawsuit is not resolved.
A decision may come as soon as April 19, when representatives from ESO's eight member nations -- Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland -- meet to discuss the project.
The $500 million project would build four 8-meter telescopes which, when combined, would have the power of a single 16-meter diameter telescope. Currently the largest telescope in the world is the Keck Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, with a diameter of ten meters.