Friday, October 30, 1992
Wednesday, October 28, 1992
Tuesday, October 27, 1992
Sunday, October 25, 1992
Saturday, October 24, 1992
Friday, October 23, 1992
Resurs 1991
1991-035A
Resurs F-2 No. 6 (17F42 No. 6) was launched on a 30 day mission in May 1991. For the first time, a Resurs F mission was flown in a lower orbit of 230 x 235 km instead of the standard 265 km altitude. Trim burns were performed to raise the orbit whenever perigee decayed to arround 220-225 km.
| Resurs F-2 No. 6 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 May 21 | 0900 | Launch by Soyuz-U | PL LC43/4 |
| 0904 | Blok-I burn | ||
| 0908 | Blok-I sep | ||
| 1991 May 22 | 0230 | 88.74 181 x 243 x 82.31 | |
| 0930 | 89.15 229 x 235 x 82.33 | ||
| 1991 May 23 | 1200 | 89.13 229 x 233 x 82.31 | |
| 1991 May 27 | 89.03 224 x 228 x 82.31 | ||
| 1991 May 27 | 1430 | 89.14 227 x 236 x 82.31 | |
| 1991 May 31 | 89.03 221 x 231 x 82.31 | ||
| 1991 Jun 1 | 89.16 228 x 236 x 82.31 | ||
| 1991 Jun 5 | 89.02 221 x 231 x 82.31 | ||
| 1991 Jun 6 | 89.11 228 x 233 x 82.31 | ||
| 1991 Jun 9 | 89.05 225 x 229 x 82.31 | ||
| 1991 Jun 10 | 89.12 224 x 236 x 82.31 | ||
| 1991 Jun 12 | 2130 | 89.16 232 x 234 x 82.31 | |
| 1991 Jun 18 | 0930 | 89.13 227 x 235 x 82.31 | |
| 1991 Jun 19 | 1700 | 89.10 225 x 234 x 82.31 | |
| 1991 Jun 20 | |||
| 0320? | Deorbit | ||
| 0331? | PO sep | ||
| 0340? | Entry | -201 x 228 | |
| 0356? | Landing | ||
Thursday, October 22, 1992
Friday, October 16, 1992
Sunday, October 11, 1992
Saturday, October 10, 1992
Gambit 1
1963-028A
The first KH-7 GAMBIT flight, SV 951, was launched in Jul 1963 by Atlas Agena D from the Point Arguello Naval Missile Facility adjacent to Vandenberg. The spacecraft remained attached to the Agena D for the first day, when the RV was recovered. The Agena gas was depleted after 9 orbits resulting in the vehicle becoming unstable and SRV recovery was done via the emergency Lifeboat system on rev 18. According to the AFCRL data the cosmic radiation package in the SRV was successfully recovered. The recovered reconnaissance film was out of focus but had a best resolution of 1 meter, much better than any previous spy satellite imagery.
After recovery, OCV then separated from the Agena 4702 upper stage in a test of the stabilization system, and reentered after 5 days on around Jul 18.0. OCV remained stable to orbit 25, was then deactivated and on orbit 34 reactivated, although it then was affected by spurious commands.
It isn't clear how long after SRV recovery the OCV separation happened; in the table below I assume it was one orbit later, but it may have been immediate. Similiary, SRV recovery times are not known exactly, and may be in error by one orbit even when a specific revolution is noted because of ambiguity in numbering of revolutions.
| KH-7 1 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 Jul 12 | 2045:59 | Launch by Atlas Agena D | NMFPA |
| 2048:17 | BECO (T+2:18) | ||
| 2050:36 | SECO (T+4:37) | ||
| 2050:53 | VECO (T+4:54) | ||
| 2050:58 | Atlas sep (T+4:59) | ||
| 2051:50 | Agena burn (T+5:51) | ||
| 2055:38 | Agena MECO (T+9:39) | 88.51 208 x 213 x 95.35 (VCR) | |
| 1963 Jul 13 | 0801 | 88.34 173 x 211 x 95.3 | |
| 1963 Jul 13 | Rev 15 last image | ||
| 1963 Jul 13 | 2315? | RV sep | |
| 1963 Jul 13 | 2330? | RV recovered on Rev 18 | |
| 1963 Jul 14 | 0050? | OCV sep from Agena D | |
| 1963 Jul | OCV orbit (28A) | 88.3 173 x 212 x 95.3 (SATCAT) | |
| Agena 4702 orbit (28C) | 88.1 176 x 185 x 95.4 (SATCAT) | ||
| Debris orbit (28B) | 87.8 122 x 216 x 95.3 (SATCAT) | ||
| 1963 Jul 16 | Agena 4702 reentered | ||
| 1963 Jul 17 | 0200 | OCV orbit | 164 x 164 x 95.37 (RAE) |
| 1963 Jul 17 | 0315 | 87.76 163 x 163 x 95.4 | |
| 1963 Jul 17 | OCV SV 951 reentered after 5.2d | ||
Friday, October 9, 1992
CAT-2
1980-F01
The CAT capsule on the second Ariane launch, LO2, had a mass of 334 kg. It was similar to CAT 01, with a conical adapter above the cylindrical CAT module, but apparently without the ballast. Above CAT was a further cylinder with a transverse tube on which was mounted AMSAT, hanging off one side.
The Ariane was destroyed less than two minutes after launch from Kourou when the first stage engines shut down early. LO2 was targeted to a 17.5 deg trajectory for better tracking; the yaw manuever at T+2:41 changes the azimuth from 93.5 deg to 110.5 deg. At the time of the failure, before this yaw, the inclination was probably around 6.0 deg.
| CAT 2 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 May 23 | 1429:39 | Launch by Ariane LO2 | CSG ELA1 |
| 1429:43 | T+4s Engine D pressure fluctuation | ||
| 1429:45 | T+6s all normal | ||
| 1430:07 | T+28s Engine D pressure fluctuation | ||
| 1430:47 | T+64s roll torque | ||
| 1431:23 | T+104s roll at 60 deg per second | ||
| 1431:27 | Self-destruct T+108s, 30 km | ||
Tuesday, October 6, 1992
Monday, October 5, 1992
Saturday, October 3, 1992
Kosmos 431
1971-065A
Kosmos-431 was launched in Jul 1971 from Baikonur on a 12 day mission at 51 degrees.
| Kosmos-431 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 Jul 30 | 0829:54 | Launch by 11A57 | KB |
| 0834 | Blok-I burn | ||
| 0838 | Blok-I sep | ||
| 1712 | 89.05 189 x 264 x 51.8 (?) | ||
| 1971 Jul 31 | 1200 | 88.95 194 x 257 x 51.77 (RAE) | |
| 1971 Jul 31 | 1656 | 89.02 196 x 255 x 51.7 | |
| 1971 Aug 2 | 0430 | 88.99 197 x 250 x 51.8 | |
| 1971 Aug 10 | 88.79 193 x 235 x 51.8 | ||
| 1971 Aug 11 | 0610? | Retrofire | |
| 0620? | PO sep | ||
| 0626? | Entry | ||
| 0642? | Landed | ||
Transit 2A
1960-007A
The Transit IIA satellite carried the first subsatellite, NRL's GRAB 1 (GREB). It carried an experimental clock, and an Alouette program ionospheric beacon. Launch was southeast over South America, to reach high inclination. The despin weights were on a timer set to deploy after 7 day.s This reportedly did not work and 2A was despun using magnetic effects by late July. However, two objects were cataloged in orbit which may have been the despin weights.
The press kit claimed that the NOTS IR scanner was intended to measure the spin period of the satellite.
| Transit IIA | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 Jun 22 | 0554 | Launch by Thor Ablestar | CC LC17 |
| T+2:44 Thor MECO | |||
| T+2:46 Thor sep | |||
| T+2:46 Ablestar burn | |||
| T+3:35 Fairing | |||
| 0603 | T+7:28 Ablestar SECO-1 | ||
| 20 min coast | |||
| 0619 | T+25:25 Circ burn, 10 sec | ||
| Plan 926 km 6.808 km/s | -986 x 925 | ||
| 0619 | T+25:39 SECO-2 | ||
| 0620 | 926 x 950 | ||
| 0622 | T+28:55 Ablestar sep | 628 x 1047 x 66.7 | |
| 0628? | GRAB 1 satellite sep | ||
| 1962 Oct 26 | End of transmissions | ||
Payload:
- Electronic clock for navigation use
- Infrared sensor (NOTS)
- Ionospheric beacon and cosmic radio noise experiment (DRTE/Canada)
- Beacon B 162/216 MHz, Beacon C 54/324 MHz