Jonathan's Space Report No. 307 1996 Dec 23 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- The Boeing North American (formerly Rockwell) Space Shuttle Orbiter OV-102 Columbia landed at 1149 UTC Dec 7 on Runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center, making STS-80 the longest shuttle mission so far at 17 days 15 hr 53 min. The next Shuttle mission is STS-81/Atlantis, which will fly to Mir in January. Atlantis was rolled out to pad 39B on Dec 10. Kaleri and Korzun made their second spacewalk at 1352 UTC on Dec 9, with hatch closure after 6h 36 min. Recent Launches --------------- A Russian defense ministry US-P electronic ocean reconnaissance satellite was launched from the GIK-5 Baykonur spaceport, Area 90, on Dec 11. The launch vehicle was the 11K69 Tsiklon-2, built by the Ukranian Yuzhnoe (Dnepropetrovsk) company. The satellite was named Kosmos-2335 after launch into a 403 x 418 km x 65.0 deg orbit. Contrary to some press reports, this satellite is not an optical imaging recon satellite. The third Inmarsat 3 satellite was launched by Lockheed Martin Atlas AC-129 on Dec 17. Inmarsat 3 F3 is a Lockheed Martin Telecommunications Series 4000 class communications satellite which provides L-band communications for maritime and aviation users. It is owned by the International Maritime Satellite Organization. The Atlas IIA's Centaur second stage placed Inmarsat 3 F3 in a conventional (although high-perigee) 1017 x 35820 km x 22.7 deg geostationary transfer orbit. The solid motor was fired prior to Dec 20, placing the satellite in a 35652 x 35951 km x 3.4 deg geosynchronous drift orbit. A large imaging recon satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office was launched on Dec 20. Launch vehicle was a Lockheed Martin Titan 4, serial K-13, and the payload may have been an Improved Crystal recon satellite. Kosmos-2336, a navigation satellite for the Russian navy, was launched by Kosmos-3M from Plesetsk on Dec 20. Orbit is 979 x 1012 km x 82.9 deg. The satellite and launch vehicle are both built by AO Polyot of Omsk. US Corporate Mergers -------------------- I don't normally track this stuff in the newsletter, but it's gotten so confusing lately I though readers might like a scorecard. The old North American Aviation (X-15, Apollo) which became Rockwell (Shuttle Orbiter, GPS) is now Boeing North American. The old Douglas (Thor) and McDonnell (Gemini), which became McDonnell Douglas (Skylab, Delta) has announced it will also merge with Boeing, creating an aerospace company to rival Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin encompasses a variety of companies from the pioneering days: Lockheed (Corona, Agena, Hubble), Martin (Titan; later Martin Marietta - Viking, NOSS), Convair (later General Dynamics; Atlas, Centaur), GE (Nimbus, Landsat), RCA (Tiros, DMSP, Astro Space comsats) among others. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Nov 4 1709 SAC-B/HETE Pegasus XL Wallops Science 61A Nov 7 1700 MGS Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17A Mars probe 62A Nov 13 2240 Arabsat 2B ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 63A Measat 2 ) Comsat 63B Nov 16 2048 Mars-96 Proton-K Baykonur LC200L Mars probe 64A Nov 19 1955 Columbia Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 65A Nov 19 2320 Progress M-33 Soyuz-U Baykonir LC1 Cargo ship 66A Nov 20 0411 ORFEUS OV-102,LEO Astronomy 65B Nov 21 2047 Hot Bird 2 Atlas IIA Canaveral LC36B Comsat 67A Nov 22 2038 WSF OV-102, LEO Materials 65C Dec 4 0658 Mars Pathfinder Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17B Mars probe 68A Dec 11 1200 Kosmos-2335 Tsiklon-2 Baykonur LC90 Recon 69A Dec 17 2357 Inmarsat III F3 Atlas IIA Canaveral LC36 Comsat 70A Dec 20 0642? Kosmos-2336 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk Navsat 71A Dec 20 1804 USA 128? Titan 4 Vandenberg SLC4E Recon Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 1 STS-80 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-82 Feb 13 OV-104 Atlantis LC39B STS-81 Jan 12 OV-105 Endeavour Palmdale OMDP ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-58/ET-81 VAB Bay 3 STS-82 ML2/RSRM-54/ET-83/OV-104 LC39B STS-81 ML3/RSRM-59/ VAB Bay 1 STS-83 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | | Back issues: ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'