Monday, February 20, 1984

Kosmos 336

  1970-036A


Kosmos-336 was Strela-1M launch 1, satellite 1.


Kosmos-336 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1970 Apr 25  1709:16  Launch by 11K65M  PL 
  Stage 2 burn 1  
 1716 T+7m Stage 2 MECO-1 
  Stage 2 burn 2 
 1807? T+58m? Stage 2 sep 
1970 Apr 30  0500   115.49 1464 x 1490 x 74.04 

Saturday, February 18, 1984

Kosmos 203

  1968-011A


The first Sfera was launched in Feb 1968 from Plesetsk into a 1200 km orbit at an inclination of 74 degrees. It had a design life of 4 months but operated for 19 months.


Kosmos-203 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1968 Feb 20  1600  Launch by 11K65M  PL 
 1602? Stage 2 burn 1 
 1608?  Cutoff; coast  100? x 1200 x 74 
 1653?  Stage 2 burn 2  
 1653?  Stage 2 sep  109.2 1178 x 1208 x 74.1 (RAE) 
 1705  Post-burn perigee at 1188 km, 63S 
1968 Feb 21  0233   109.32 1188 x 1202 x 74.1 
1969 Sep   End of ops

Saturday, February 11, 1984

The Hammond almanac of a million facts, records, forecasts

 https://welib.org/md5/dcd6ac13c926d4c0697960ca69d1b7c4

Aviation Week: October 3,1983

 https://welib.org/md5/43227bf3d7a305b148b21577b8636d55

Explorer 31

 1965-098B


DME-A (Direct Measurements Explorer A), built by APL, was part of the ISIS-X (International Satellite for Ionospheric Studies) program, and was launched together with Alouette 2 on 1965 Nov 29 by a Thor Agena B from Vandenberg. DME-A was launched inside an adapter, below Alouette. Orbit of Explorer XXXI was 121.4 min, 505 x 2978 km x 79.8 deg. It operated until 1969 Jun 9. Explorer 31 was 98 kg, 0.9m dia, 0.64m high, with a 0.5m boom giving span of 1.2m.


Payload:

  • Retarding Potential Analysers (Te,ne,Tion,nion)

  • Energetic electron current monitor (GSFC/Donley) (high flux)

  • Energetic electron current monitor (GSFC/Maier) (low flux)

  • Electron wake studies

  • Ion mass spectrometers

  • A1 Thermal Ion Experiment (GSFC/Donley)

  • B1 Thermal Electrons (GSFC/Donley)

  • C1/C2 Electrostatic Probe (GSFC/Brace)

  • E Electron Temperature (UCL/Willmore)

  • F Spherical Ion Mass Spectrometer (UCL/Willmore)

  • D High Resolution Ion Mass Spectrometer (NRL/Hoffman)


DME-A 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1965 Nov 29  0448:47 Launch by Thor Agena B  V 75-1-1 
 0451:16  Thor MECO (T+2:29) 
 0451:25  Thor VECO (T+2:38) 
 0451:32  Thor sep (T+2:45) 
 0451:56  Agena burn (T+3:09) 
  T+3:20 Fairing sep 
 0455:48  Agena MECO (T+7:01)  -100? x 500 x 79.8  
  T+49:59 Agena MES-2 
 0538:58 T+50:11 Agena MECO-2 121.40 500 x 2980 x 79.80 (VCR) 
 0543:23 T+54:36 Alouette sep 
 0544:04 T+55:17 Adapter petals sep 
 0544:31 T+55:44 DME-A sep  121.4 505 x 2978 x 79.8  
1969 Jun 9   End of ops 

Thursday, February 9, 1984

Kosmos 140

  1967-009A


The third test flight, 7K-OK No. 3, reached orbit safely and was named Kosmos-140. The orbit was lower than planned and the satellite couldn't turn its solar panels to the sun. After launch, an experiment began with a liquid helium cryostat. The cryostat temperature was reduced to 5.2 Kelvin. At around six hours after launch, the spacecraft was spun up to test the creation of artificial gravity; the cryostat warmed up at this point and three hours later the temperature was above sensor range.

Kosmos-140 remained in orbit for another day and a half; the spacecraft was commanded to return because of the failure to achieve solar orientation. Retrofire was successful on rev 33 and the orbital module and service module separated from the descent module, but during reentry the heatshield partially failed and the cabin depressurized. The spacecraft did survive reentry, but landed on the ice-covered Aral Sea. Five hours after landing, according to Kamanin's diaries, it sank because of the small hole in the heat shield. It was recovered after 48 hr.


Kosmos-140
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1967 Feb 7  0320:00  Launch by Soyuz 11A511  KB 
 0325Blok-I burn 
 0329  Blok-I cutoff, orbit insertion 
 0329  Blok-I sep  157 x 229 x 51.69 
 0700?He cryostat down to 5.2K 
 0930? Rev 5 orbit raise 
 0930? Spacecraft spinup  171 x 235 x 51.68 
 1230? Cryostat field off 
1967 Feb 8  0930?  166 x 218 x 51.65 
 1200? 58s KTDU-35 burn  220 x 310 x 51.7 
1967 Feb 9  0215? Retrofire 
 0230? PAO, BO sep 
 0236?Reentry, partial heatshield failure 
 0253Landed in Aral Sea

Monday, February 6, 1984

Kosmos 863

 1976-106A



Kosmos-863 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1976 Oct 25  1430 Launch by Soyuz-U  Plesetsk 
 1434 Blok-I burn 
 1438 Blok-I sep 
1976 Oct 26   89.75 177 x 346 x 62.8 
1976 Oct 29  
89.41 169 x 320 x 62.8 
1976 Nov 2    89.25 166 x 307 x 62.8 
1976 Nov 3   
89.53 166 x 335 x 62.8 
1976 Nov 5   
 0624? Deorbit 
 0634? PO sep 
 0638? Entry 
 0655? Landed 

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