Jonathan's Space Report No. 231 1995 Feb 26 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle -------- Endeavour is now on complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center awaiting its March 2 launch on the Astro 2 flight (STS-67). Astro 2 is a Spacelab mission, using two Spacelab Pallets with the Spacelab Igloo avionics container and the IPS instrument pointing system. Mounted on the IPS are three ultraviolet telescopes. The 0.9-m Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) takes spectra in the 900 to 1900 Angstrom short wavelength UV range and the 500 to 900 A extreme ultraviolet range. The 0.5m Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) telescope studies spectra in the longer wavelength 1400-3200A ultraviolet range. The 0.38m Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) is a wide-field (0.6 degree) imaging telescope which uses ultraviolet-sensitive film. Also in the cargo bay are the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) pallet and two Getaway Special (GAS) cans (G-387/G-388) which constitute the Endeavour Telescope, a project of the Australian Space Office. The 0.1m telescope takes a narrow-band, 2-degree wide-field ultraviolet image. Unlike UIT, it uses CCDs rather than film. The Australian Endeavour telescope first flew (as G-609/G-610) aboard Discovery in Jan 1992, but failed to work correctly. On that mission it was attached to a cross-bay GAS Bridge Assembly (GBA) with other GAS cans; this time the cans are mounted on a GAS Beam Adapter (GABA) on the side of the payload bay wall. (Note that the name of the telescope is nothing to do with the name of the Shuttle except that both are named after Cook's ship.) Mir --- The Mir station raised its orbit on Feb 10; on Feb 10 its orbit was 390 x 391 km x 51.6 deg, 92.38 min; on Feb 20 it was in a 391 x 397 km x 51.6 deg, 92.45 min orbit. Progress vehicle no. 226 was launched on Feb 15, and given the name Progress M-26 once reaching orbit. Progress M-25 undocked on Feb 16 (due at 1303 UT) and was deorbited. Progress M-26 then docked at the vacant Kvant docking port on Feb 17 (due at 1821 UT). It carries experiments for the visit of US astronaut Norman Thagard to Mir, due next month. Recent Launches -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Foton No. 10 was launched from Plesetk on Feb 16 into a 219 x 368 km x 62.8 deg, 90.39 min orbit. The Foton recoverable materials processing satellite, built by the Central Specialized Design Bureau in Samara, is based on the Vostok/Zenit spy satellite bus. This mission carries materials processing experiments from Germany and France. Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jan 10 0618 Intelsat 704 Atlas IIAS Canaveral LC36 Comsat 01A Jan 15 1345 EXPRESS Mu-3S-II Kagoshima Materials - Jan 24 0354 Tsikada ) Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Navsat 02A ASTRID ) Science 02B FAISAT ) Comsat 02C Jan 25 1926? Apstar 2 Chang Zheng 2E Xichang Comsat FTO Jan 29 0125 UHF F/O F4 Atlas II Canaveral LC36 Comsat 03A Feb 3 0522 Discovery ) Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 04A Spacehab SH03) Feb 4 0457 ODERACS II A ) Discovery, LEO Calibration 04C ODERACS II B ) Calibration 04D ODERACS II C ) Calibration 04E ODERACS II D ) Calibration 04F ODERACS II E ) Calibration 04G ODERACS II F ) Calibration 04H Feb 7 1226 Spartan 204 Discovery, LEO Astronomy 04B Feb 15 1648 Progress M-26 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 05A Feb 16 1615? Foton No. 10 Soyuz-U Plesetsk Materials 06A Reentries --------- Jan 15 EXPRESS Reentered Feb 11 Discovery Landed at KSC Feb 12 BREMSAT Reentered Feb 16 Progress M-25 Deorbited Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia Palmdale OMDP - OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-70 Jun 22 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-71 Jun OV-105 Endeavour LC39A STS-67 Mar 2 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/ STS-70 ML2/RSRM-43/ET-69/OV-105 LC39A STS-67 ML3/RSRM-45 VAB Bay 1 STS-71 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/jsr.html | ! ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'