From: mcdowell@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell)
Subject: "Jonathan's Space Report, No. 130"
Followup-To: sci.space
Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA,  USA
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 18:04:55 GMT

Jonathan's Space Report 

No. 130		1992 Oct 14
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STS-52 is due for launch on Oct 22.

Russian cosmonauts Vladimir Titov of the Russian Air Force and Sergey
Krikalyov of NPO Energiya have been selected to train to fly aboard
Shuttle mission STS-60 next year. The US crew for STS-60 has not yet
been announced.

China launched its 13th FSW-1 recoverable satellite from Jiuqan Space
Center with a Chang Zheng 2C launch vehicle on Oct 6 into a 214 x 311 km
orbit inclined 63 degrees. The Swedish Space Corporation's Freja
scientific satellite separated from the FSW-1 and used Thiokol Star 13
and Star 6B solid rocket motors to maneuver into a 548 km x 1759 km x 63
degree orbit. Freja will study the aurora and the magnetosphere; project
manager for Freja is  Sven Grahn, a longtime member of the famous
Kettering Group, an independent satellite tracking group.

Deutsche Bundespost Telekom's DFS 3 Kopernikus satellite was launched
Oct 12 at 0947 UTC by a McDonnell Douglas Delta 7925 vehicle from Cape
Canaveral LC17. The Delta second stage put the payload and third stage
into a medium  altitude earth orbit. This orbit is much higher than the
corresponding one for any previous Delta launch: 1405 km x 3070 km
inclined 25 degrees. The Delta's PAM-D third stage then placed the
satellite in geostationary transfer orbit. An MBB S400 thruster will be
used to raise the perigee on several burns to reach geostationary orbit.
The DFS 3 satellite is Aerospatiale's seventh Spacebus 100 class
satellite to be launched.

A Russian satellite was launched on Oct 8 around 1900 UTC by Soyuz
launch vehicle from Plesetsk. I don't have any information yet
on the satellite's name, but the orbital elements indicate that
it is a recoverable Vostok class satellite built by the
TsSKB (Central Specialized Design Bureau) in Samara. Most likely
it is a Foton materials processing flight, although the apogee is
a bit low compared to previous flights. Other possibilities are that
it is a Bion life sciences flight or a Kosmos spy satellite.

Meanwhile, Russian military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (24 Sep p.4, 3 Oct
p.3) reports that the TsSKB is planning an unusual launch on November 16
from Plesetsk. The satellite is called 'Zvezda Kolumba' (Columbus Star)
or alternatively 'Resurs-500' and is part of project 'Europa-Amerika 500'.
The spacecraft is a Resurs-F type spacecraft but instead of the usual
landing in Kazakhstan, it will land in the Pacific Ocean off the
coast of Seattle. The idea is to drum up support for American commercial use
of the Russian space program. 

Molniya-3 (12), launched in 1979, reentered on Sep 26.

The two Pion air density satellites deployed on Sep 1 reentered on Sep 24 and Sep 25.

Thanks to Dean Adams, Phillip Clark and Sergey Voevodin for information in this report. 

Current Shuttle Processing Status
____________________________________________

Orbiters               Location   Mission 
                                          
OV-102 Columbia        LC39B         STS-52
OV-103 Discovery       OPF Bay 3     STS-53
OV-104 Atlantis        OPF Bay 2     OMDP
OV-105 Endeavour       OPF Bay 1     STS-54
                                          
ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks                       
                                          
ML1/STS-53             VAB Bay 3
ML2/		       VAB Bay 1
ML3/STS-52/ET/OV-102   LC39B


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 |  Jonathan McDowell                 |  phone : (617) 495-7176                |
 |  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for    |                                        |
 |   Astrophysics                     |                                        |
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 |  Cambridge MA 02138                |  inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu      |
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