Regular Features

Features:


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     34A

Payloads no longer in orbit

May 13        Kosmos-2293
May 22        IAE

Current 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

[Previous Section: NSS News]
[Table of Contents] [SpaceViews Forum]