Jonathan's Space Report No. 264 1995 Nov 17 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- Mission STS-74 was launched at 12:30:43 UTC on 1995 Nov 12. Atlantis left pad 39A on the second attempt; the Nov 11 attempt was scrubbed at T-5min due to bad weather at the transatlantic abort sites. On Nov 12, separation of the RSRM-51 solid rocket motors came at 12:32:47 (approx) and main engine cutoff (MECO) was at around 12:39:15, followed by separation of external tank ET-74 a few seconds later. The OMS-2 orbit circularization burn was successful at 1314 UTC and the payload bay doors were opened at about 1400 UTC. Atlantis was placed in a 300 x 339 km x 51.64 deg orbit with a period of 90.92 min. The RMS arm was used to grapple the 316GK Docking Module in the payload bay at around 0546 UTC (scheduled) on Nov 14. The Docking Module (DM) was due to be unberthed at 0621 UTC and moved over the Orbiter Docking System (ODS) in the forward part of the payload bay. At 0717 UT on Nov 14 the Docking Module was successfully connected to the Orbiter Docking System as Atlantis fired thrusters to slam the ODS into one of the DM's docking ports, docking the craft together. At around 0900 UT the RMS arm released the DM, now connected to the ODS by a tight seal. Atlantis made an OMS burn at 0327 UTC on Nov 15 to begin the terminal approach to Mir. It made rendezvous at a distance of 50m at 0528 UTC (data from Bill Harwood). Atlantis remained at 50m until 0556 when it resumed its approach, stopping again at 0618 at a distance of 10m. Final approach from 10m began at 0622 and Atlantis docked with Mir at 0627:39 UTC on Nov 15. By 0636 the latches on the APDS docking system were closed and the Docking Module was firmly attached to Kristall. The hatches to Mir were opened at about 0900 UTC. Orbit of the Mir/Atlantis complex is 391 x 394 km x 51.6 deg. Crew of the complex are: Yuriy Gidzenko (Station commander, Russian Air Force), Sergey Avdeev (Mir Flight Engineer, RKK Energiya), Thomas Reiter (Mir Flight Engineer 2, European Space Agency), Ken Cameron (Atlantis commander, NASA), James Halsell (Atlantis pilot, NASA), Chris Hadfield (Mission specialist, Canadian Space Agency), Jerry Ross (Mission Specialist, NASA), and William McArthur (Mission Specialist, NASA). Recent Launches -------------- The European Space Agency's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) is in orbit! In 1983, the IRAS satellite made the first survey of the far infrared sky. Its liquid-helium cooled telescope operated for less than a year, but it is still generating Ph.D. theses at a rapid rate - perhaps one of the most striking examples of a single mission having a profound influence on astronomy. Unlike IRAS, ISO will carry out pointed observations at specific targets of interest instead of scanning the entire sky. ISO's instruments are much more sophisticated - IRAS measured the brightness of sources at four wavelengths while ISO will return images and high resolution spectra over the entire infrared range from 2.5 microns to 200 microns. Mass of ISO is 2498 kg at launch, 2418 kg at beginning of observations, and 1515 kg dry. There are four instruments, the LWS and SWS long and short wavelength spectrometers, and the ISOCAM and ISOPHOT camera and photometer systems. The liquid helium cooled 60 cm telescope may operate for as much as a year and a half. ISO was launched by an Ariane 44P from Kourou on Nov 17 into an elliptical transfer orbit with a period of 24 hours 8.8 minutes, and an altitude of 570 x 71498 km x 5.2 deg. Its on-board propulsion system will synchronize the orbit with a 23-hour 56 minute sidereal period, but unlike a communications satellite the orbit will be elliptical with an apogee of 70000 km, taking it far from the radiation belts. The cover of the cryogenic dewar will be ejected on Nov 28 launch and performance verification observations are planned to begin around Dec 10. Astronomers with time scheduled on ISO (including your eager correspondent!) will have to wait until early next year before regular observations begin. The V80 flight of Ariane used a standard 44P vehicle, with an H-10-III upper stage, but with the No. 02 type payload fairing. Launch was at 0120 UTC on Nov 12, with second stage burn at 0123 and third stage burn at 0125. The third stage shut down at 0138 and ISO separated at 0140 UTC. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Oct 6 0323 Kosmos-2321 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Navsat 52A Oct 8 1851 Progress M-29 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 53A Oct 11 1626 Luch-1 Proton-K/DM2M Baykonur Data Relay 54A Oct 19 0038 Astra 1E Ariane 42L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 55A Oct 20 1353 Columbia ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 56A Spacelab USML-2) Oct 22 0800 UHF F6 Atlas II Canaveral LC36 Comsat 57A Oct 23 2203 Meteor Conestoga 1620 Wallops LA0 Micrograv FTO Oct 31 2019 Kosmos-2322 Zenit-2 Baykonur LC45L Sigint 58A Nov 4 1422 Radarsat ) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2 Rem sensing 59A SURFSAT ) 59B Nov 6 0515 Milstar DFS 2 Titan 4 Centaur Canaveral LC40 Comsat 60A Nov 12 1230 Atlantis ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 61A Docking Module ) Nov 17 0120 ISO Ariane 44P Kourou ELA2 Astronomy 62A Reentries --------- Oct 26 Resurs-F2 Landed Nov 5 Columbia Landed at KSC Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-75 Feb 29 OV-103 Discovery Palmdale OMDP OV-104 Atlantis LEO STS-74 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 3 STS-72 Jan 11 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-52/ET-75 VAB STS-72 ML2/ LC39A STS-74 ML3/ .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS6 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html | | ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'