Friday, April 14, 1995
Wednesday, April 12, 1995
Kosmos 1813
1987-004A
Two-tone telemetry; Medium res satellite. The satellite was destroyed after a failed reentry attempt. Some pieces remained in high orbit, including catalog 19474 which, as 1988-67H, was incorrectly associated with another launch until 2003.
| Kosmos-1813 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 Jan 15 | 1120 | Launch by Soyuz | PL |
| 1124 | Blok-I burn | ||
| 1129 | Blok-I sep | ||
| 1987 Jan 15.53 | 200x364x72.82 | ||
| 1987 Jan 16.3 | 357x416x72.8 from 196x364x72.8 | ||
| 1987 Jan 29 | 358x416x72.8 | ||
| 1987 Jan 29 | 04C-F | ||
| 1987 Jan 29 | End of tx (AiK) | ||
| 1987 Jan 29 | 0555 | Exploded after failed reentry | |
| 1987 Jan 30 | 360x415x72.8 | ||
| 1987 Feb 3 | 04G-04AB | ||
| 1987 Feb 9 | 04AC-04AP | ||
| 1989 Mar 13 | 1987-04A reentered | ||
| 1989 Mar 15 | 1987-04EZ reentered | ||
| 1989 Mar 18 | 1987-04BM reentered | ||
| 1989 Jun 13 | 1987-04W reentered | ||
| 1989 Jun 19 | 1987-04DS reentered | ||
| 1989 Jun 26 | 1988-67H reentered | ||
| 1989 Oct 25 | 1987-04DJ reentered | ||
| 1990 Jan 30 | 1987-04AQ reentered | ||
| 1990 Jul 16 | 1987-04GR reentered | ||
Monday, April 10, 1995
Explorer 38
1968-055A
The first Radio Astronomy Explorer, RAE 1, was built by Fairchild-Hiller Space System Div (Md) for NASA-GSFC. The satellite, RAE-A before launch, had four antennae deployed in a pair of V shapes. One pair of antennae were each 18m long, the second pair were 228m long. Explorer 38 was launched at 1727 on 1968 Jul 4 by a Delta J from Space Launch Complex 2-East at Vandenberg. It entered a parking orbit of 640 x 5994 km. The solid apogee motor fired on Jul 7 to change the orbit to 224.4 min, 5851 x 5861 km x 120.6 deg. On Jul 8 the satellite was despun and on Jul 22 the process of extending the antennae began. At first, the large antennae were extended only to 138m. On Sep 24 the antennae were extended to 183m, and operations with the radio astronomy experiment began on Sep 26. Final extension of the antennae to 228m (450m span) occurred on Oct 8. RAE I operated until 1972 Dec 25. In 1970 and 1971 some gravity gradient dynamics experiments were performed and on 1972 Oct 31 the spacecraft was rotated 180 degrees around its pitch axis. This allowed the previously earth-pointed vector to observe celestial emission.
| RAE A | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 Jul 4 | 1726:50 | Launch by Delta J | V SLC2E |
| T+0:43 SRM burnout | |||
| T+0:50 SRM sep | |||
| T+2:31 MECO | -6300 x 640 x 120.6 | ||
| T+2:35 SES | |||
| T+2:46 Fairing | |||
| T+2:46 Inertia booms deploy | |||
| 1735:54 | T+9:04 SECO | -3570? x 645 x 120.6 | |
| T+11:03 St 2 sep | |||
| T+11:17 St 3 burn 44s | |||
| 1738:49 | T+11:59 St 3 burnout | ||
| 1740:32 | T+13:42 St 3 sep | 640 x 5994 x 120.6 | |
| 1747? | Stage 2 entry | ||
| 1968 Jul 7 | 0938 | A+0 AKM burn | |
| 0938 | A+0:18 AKM burnout | 224.4 5851 x 5861 x 120.6 | |
| 0940 | A+2:00 AKM sep | ||
| Spin at 92 rpm | |||
| 1968 Jul 8 | 1630 | Yo-yo despin | |
| 1968 Jul 8 | Magnetic despin | ||
| 1968 Jul 22 | 1702 | Extend to 112 m | |
| Extend to 138m | |||
| 1968 Jul 23 | 1510 | Dipoles to 20 m | |
| 1968 Sep 24 | Extend to 183m | ||
| 2031 | Completed | ||
| 1968 Oct 8 | 1722 | Extend to 229m | |
| 1917 | Complete to 229m | ||
| 1950 | Libration damper extend from 165 to 192m | ||
| 1972 Oct 31 | Inversion experiment | ||
| 1500 | Retract wires to 160m, 21 min | ||
| 1521 | 70 min coast | ||
| 1631 | Extend to 229m, 14 min | ||
| 1645 | Extension complete | ||
| 1645 | Activated damper | ||
| 1972 Dec 25 | End of ops | ||