Jonathan's Space Report No. 288
by Jonathan McDowell
Shuttle and Mir
OV-105 Endeavour (mission STS-77) was launched on May 19 at 1030 UTC. The solid rocket boosters (RSRM-47) separated at 1032 UTC, and the main engines shut down at 1038 UTC, with external tank ET-78 jettisoned shortly afterwards, to place the Orbiter in an elliptical transfer orbit. This was the first launch to use three of the improved Block I engines. The two smaller OMS engines were fired at apogee at 1112 UTC, circularizing the orbit. At 1214 UTC opening of the payload bay doors was complete and Endeavour was declared `Go for Orbit Ops' in a 280 x 290 km x 39.0 deg orbit.
On May 20 at 1129 UTC the Spartan 207 satellite was deployed from the robot arm. Endeavour moved 120 m from the satellite, and at 1338 UTC the Spartan began deploying the Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE). Three 28-m booms inflated to push the dish away from the satellite; the dish then inflated to make a 14-m diameter parabolic antenna. The Spartan/IAE was observed to tumble slowly. The IAE was jettisoned at 1458 UTC (?) on May 20. A day later at 1453 UTC on May 21, Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau used the RMS arm to retrieve Spartan 207 from orbit, together with its cameras which had filmed the IAE deployment.
On May 22 at 1018 UTC the PAMS STU (Satellite Test Unit) was ejected from the TEAMS MPESS bridge in the Shuttle's payload bay. PAMS-STU is intended to test out a passive aerodynamic stabilization and magnetic damping system. At around 1500 UTC Endeavour returned to PAMS-STU in the first of three rendezvous operations with the small satellite. A second rendezvous was conducted on May 25 and the third on May 27.
Meanwhile, aboard the Mir complex, the EO-21 commander Yuriy Onufrienko and flight engineer 1 Yuriy Usachyov made a spacewalk on May 24 at on May 20 at 2250 UTC. The cosmonauts removed the US/Russian Mir Cooperative Solar Array (MCSA) from its location on the exterior of the 316GK Stikovochnoy Otsek (Docking Compartment) and carried it to the other end of the complex using the Strela-2 crane. The MCSA was attached to the 37KE Kvant module, opposite another panel which was added last year. The EVA concluded at 0410 UTC on May 21 after 5h 20m. The second spacewalk began on May 24 at 2047 UTC. Onufrienko and Usachyov completed the installation of the MCSA and connected it electrically. The spacewalk was concluded on May 25 at 0230 UTC. The MCSA panel was deployed from its initial folded configuration on May 25. (Source: C. v.d.Berg's Mir News).
Columbia was transferred to the VAB on May 21 and was mated to the external tank for STS-78 on May 22.
Recent Launches
Orbital Sciences Corp. has had another launch success, placing the DoD's MSTI-3 satellite in orbit aboard a Pegasus. The Lockheed L-1011 carrier aircraft took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base's runway 30/12 and proceeded to the drop point at 36 deg 0 min N, 123 deg 0 min W over the Pacific. The Pegasus rocket was released and a few seconds later ignited the first of its three stages. It is the "Pegasus Hybrid" version, a standard Pegasus with modified fins to accommodate the L-1011 carrier plane instead of the original B-52.
MSTI 3 will test out new sensor technology for ballistic missile defense. The satellite is built by Spectrum Astro Inc, and carries three sensors: a mid wave IR camera, a short wave IR camera, and a visible imaging spectrometer. Its goal is to study the IR emission from the Earth to determine if tactical ballistic missiles can be spotted during their coast phase against the bright Earth background. Initial checkout of the satellite is reported to have gone well.
The Galaxy 9 comsat was launched on May 23 by a McDonnell Douglas Delta 7925 rocket from Cape Canaveral. The Hughes HS-376 satellite will provide communications for the Hughes Galaxy network. It has 24 C-band transponders which will be used for cable TV feeds.
The Russian Space Forces launched a Krunichev Proton-K rocket on May 25 with an RKK Energiya Blok DM-2 upper stage. The vehicle placed an NPO Prikladnoi Mekhaniki `Gorizont' communications satellite in orbit, reportedly nicknamed `Prezidentskiy' since it will provide coverage of the Russian presidential election campaign to Western Siberia and the Ural region.
The initial orbit of the putative USA 119 payload, as derived by Rainer Kracht from amateur observations, was 312 x 622 km x 63.4 deg. The payload was later found to have moved to a 1050 x 1150 km x 63.4 deg orbit, characteristic of the US Navy ocean surveillance triplet spacecraft. Four objects have been cataloged by Space Command, including 1996-29D = USA-122, but no orbital data have been officially released.
The Italian Satellite per Astronomia a raggi X has been renamed BeppoSAX in honor of Guiseppe "Beppo" Occhialini, a pioneer in Italian gamma ray and cosmic ray astronomy.
The McDonnell Douglas/NASA DC-XA reusable vertical-landing rocket made its first flight from White Sands on May 18, reaching an apogee of 240 m.
Table of Recent Launches
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Apr 3 2301 Inmarsat III F1 Atlas IIA Canaveral LC36 Comsat 20A Apr 8 2309 Astra 1F Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur LC81 Comsat 21A Apr 20 2236 M-SAT 1 Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 22A Apr 23 1148 Priroda Proton-K Baykonur LC81 Spaceship 23A Apr 24 1227 MSX Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Mil.tech. 24A Apr 24 1303 Kosmos-2332 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk Radar cal 25A Apr 24 2337 USA-118 Titan 401 Canaveral LC41 Sigint 26A Apr 30 0431 BeppoSAX Atlas I Canaveral LC36B Astronomy 27A May 5 0704 Progress M-31 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 28A May 12 2132 USA-119 Titan 403? Vandenberg SLC4E Recon? 29A USA-120? 29B? USA-121? 29C? USA-122 29D May 14 Kometa? Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Recon FTO May 16 0156 Palapa C2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 30A AMOS ) Comsat 30B May 17 0244 MSTI-3 Pegasus L-1011,Pacific Technology 31A May 19 1030 Endeavour Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 32A Spartan 207 Technology 32B IAE Technology 32C PAMS STU Technology 32D May 23 2310 Galaxy 9 Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17B Comsat 33A May 25 Gorizont Proton-K/DM2 Baykonur Comsat 34APayloads no longer in orbit
May 13 Kosmos-2293 May 22 IAECurrent Shuttle Processing Status
Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia VAB Bay 3 STS-78 Jun 27 OV-103 Discovery Palmdale OMDP OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 1 STS-79 Jul 31 OV-105 Endeavour On orbit STS-77 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/ LC39B ML2/RSRM-54 VAB Bay 1 STS-79 ML3/RSRM-55/ET-79/OV102 VAB Bay 3 STS-78
Space Calendar
by Ron Baalke
June 1996
* Jun ?? - Apstar-1A Long March Launch
* Jun ?? - Italsat-2 Ariane 4 Launch
Jun 01 - Moon Passes 0.8 Degrees North of Asteroid Ceres
Jun 01-06 - Space 96, Albuquerque, New Mexico
* Jun 03 - Cluster Ariane 5 Launch (ESA/NASA)
Jun 03 - Comet Gunn, Closest Approach to Earth (1.469 AU)
Jun 03 - 30th Anniversary (1966), Gemini 9 Launch
Jun 06 - Comet Hyakutake Crosses the Earth's Orbit
Jun 07 - Asteroid 498 Tokio Occults 8.9 Magnitude Star in Ophiuchus
* Jun 07 - Delta Clipper XA Flight Test
* Jun 10 - Asteroid Ceres Occults 7.7 Magnitude Star SAO 159866
Jun 10 - Mercury At Its Greatest Elongation (24 Degrees)
Jun 11 - Asteroid Icarus Near-Earth Flyby (0.1012 AU)
Jun 12 - Galileo, Orbital Trim Maneuver #5 (OTM-5)
* Jun 13 - Intelsat 709 Ariane 4 Launch
Jun 14 - Mercury Passes 3 Degrees South of Mars
Jun 16 - Asteroid 1990MU Near-Earth Flyby (0.2499 AU)
Jun 16 - Mars Passes 3 Degrees NW of Mercury
* Jun 19 - NEAR, Trajectory Correction Maneuver #2 (TCM-2)
Jun 20 - STS-78, Columbia, Life & Microgravity Spacelab (LMS)
Jun 20 - Summer Solstice
June 22-23 - Universe '96, Santa Clara, California
Jun 23 - Mercury Passes 1.5 Degrees North of Venus
Jun 25 - Comet Parker-Hartley Perihelion (3.05 AU)
Jun 27 - Galileo, 1st Ganymede Flyby (Orbit 1)
* Jun 28 - Galileo, Europa Observations (Orbit 1)
* Jun 28 - Jupiter/Europa Occults PPM 269153
* Jun 29 - TOMS Pegasus XL Launch
Jun 29 - Asteroid Metis at Opposition
* Jun 29 - Venus Passes 4 Degress South of Mars
Jun 30 - GPS-10 Delta Launch
Jun 30 - Asteroid 7074 Interamnia Occults 10 Magnitude Star in Triangulum
Jun 30 - 25th Anniversary (1971), Death of 3 Cosmonauts in Soyuz 11
July 1996
Jul ?? - Telecom-2D/Insat-2D Ariane 4 Launch
Jul 01 - Galileo, Orbital Trim Maneuver #6 (OTM-6)
Jul 02 - Comet Kopff Perihelion (1.5796 AU)
Jul 04 - Jupiter at Opposition
* Jul 04 - Comet Hale-Bopp at Opposition
* Jul 05 - Progress M-32 Launch (Russia)
* Jul 05 - Arabsat-2A/Turksat Ariane 4 Launch
Jul 05 - Earth at Aphelion (94,512,258 miles from Sun)
Jul 08 - Comet Kopff, Closest Approach to Earth (0.5651 AU)
Jul 09 - Galileo, Orbital Trim Maneuver #7 (OTM-7)
* Jul 09 - GPS-26 Delta Launch
* Jul 11 - Comet Kopff at Opposition
* Jul 11 - Interball-2 Launch (Russia)
Jul 12 - Moon Occults Venus
* Jul 16 - Comet Spacewatch Perihelion (1.54 AU)
Jul 16 - Asteroid Victoria at Opposition
Jul 17 - Venus at Greatest Brilliancy (Magnititude -4.5)
Jul 18 - Neptune at Opposition
Jul 18 - 30th Anniversary (1966), Gemini 10 Launch
* Jul 19 - EHF-7 Atlas Launch
Jul 20 - 20th Anniversary (1976), Viking 1 Mars Landing
Jul 21 - 35th Anniversary (1961), Mercury 4 Launch
Jul 24 - Comet Gunn Perihelion (2.462 AU)
Jul 25 - Uranus at Opposition
Jul 26 - 25th Anniversary (1971), Apollo 15 Launch
* Jul 27 - Comet 1996 E1 (NEAT) Perihelion (1.31 AU)
Jul 29 - South Delta-Aquarids Meteor Shower
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