From: mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell)
Subject: world
Followup-To: sci.space
Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA,  USA
Distribution: "Jonathan's Space Report, No. 125"
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 18:13:25 GMT

Jonathan's Space Report 

No. 125		1992 Aug 17
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mir
----

The Soyuz TM-15 crew, Anatoli Solov'yov and Sergey Avdeev,
continue in orbit aboard the Mir complex. They are
due to remain aboard the station until January 1993.

Shuttle
-------

The STS-47/Spacelab-J mission is due for launch on Sep 11. Endeavour has
been transferred to the VAB and will be mated with the tank once
problems with an overhead crane have been resolved.

Launches
---------

The TOPEX/POSEIDON oceanography satellite was launched on Aug 10 by
Ariane 42P from Kourou. The satellite is operated jointly by JPL and the
French space agency CNES. It carries two radar altimeters to measure the
height of the ocean surface, a microwave radiometer, laser reflectors,
and orbit navigation systems. TOPEX's orbit is 1316 x 1331 km x 66.1 deg

The same Ariane launch put two 50kg microsatellites into orbit, KITSAT-A
and S80/T. KITSAT is owned by the Korean Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology, and has CCD cameras and a store/forward comms
transponder. S80/T is owned by CNES.

The first Hughes 3-axis HS-601 comsat was launched on Aug 13 by a Chang
Zheng 2E launch vehicle from Xichang in China. The CZ-2E placed the
Optus B1 spacecraft in a low 200 x 1040 km x 28 deg  orbit; a Star 63F
kick  motor then moved it to geostationary transfer orbit. Optus B1 will
be used by the Australian Optus Communications  to replace the older
Optus (formerly Aussat) comsats. The launch had originally been
attempted in March but was postponed when the vehicle failed to ignite 
correctly.

The Chinese also launched a low orbit FSW recoverable satellite from
the northern Jiquan space center into a 63 degree polar orbit on Aug 9.

Kosmos-2208, a Russian military communications satellite, was launched 
on Aug 12 from Plesetsk into  a 787 x 806 km x 74 deg orbit. A Molniya
communications satellite was launched on Aug 6 into a 625x  39689 km x
62.8  deg orbit.



Current Shuttle Processing Status
____________________________________________

Orbiters               Location   Mission 
                                          
OV-102 Columbia        OPF Bay 1     STS-52
OV-103 Discovery       OPF Bay 3     STS-53
OV-104 Atlantis        OPF Bay 2     OMDP
OV-105 Endeavour       VAB Bay 3     STS-47
                                          
ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks                       
                                          
ML1/		       
ML2/STS-47/ET          VAB Bay 3
ML3/STS-52	       VAB Bay 1


 .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
 |  Jonathan McDowell                 |  phone : (617) 495-7176                |
 |  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for    |                                        |
 |   Astrophysics                     |                                        |
 |  60 Garden St, MS4                 |                                        |
 |  Cambridge MA 02138                |  inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu      |
 |  USA                               |                                        |
 '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'