Mariner 6

  1969-014A

---

The Mariner Mars 69 spacecraft were similar in design to the Mariner C probes. The first to be launched was M69-3, or Mariner F. During test operations at LC36A, the Atlas 5402 first stage of AC-19 was damaged and had to be replaced by Atlas 5105. M69-3 was swapped to AC-20 to save time.

Launch was at 0129:02 on 1969 Feb 25 by Atlas Centaur from Cape Kennedy's LC36. The single Centaur burn, direct ascent trajectory with an initial azimuth of 108 deg and a yaw burn to final heading of 133 deg, and led to solar orbit insertion at 0141 and Centaur separation at 0143. Centaur venting placed the final stage on a trajectory missing Mars by 637000 km. After a single course correction on 1969 Mar 1, Mariner VI flew past Mars at 0519 on 1969 Jul 31. The flyby was targeted for the equatorial Meridiani Sinus region, with varied light and dark albedo features.

Mariner 6
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1969 Feb 25	0129:02	Launch by Atlas Centaur
	0131:33	BECO
	0131:36	Booster sep
	0132:18	Centaur insulation sep, 4 panels
	0132:54	Fairing sep
	0133:33	SECO
	0133:40	Atlas sep
	0133:49	Centaur MES
	0141:11	Centaur MECO, solar orbit	90 x Inf x 43
	0142:43	Centaur sep
	0146:45	Solar panels deployed
	0155:24	Centaur venting
1969 Mar 1	0054:44E	TCM 5s 3.1m/s
1969 Mar 3?		Solar orbit
1969 Mar 6	1911	Unlock scan platform; dV 0.01m/s
1969 Apr 28		Canopus lock problems
1969 May 3		Canopus reacquired
1969 Jul 29	0450	Far encounter begins
1969 Jul 29?		AC-20 flyby Mars 640000 km?
1969 Jul 30	0700	In Mars sphere
1969 Jul 31	0222	Near encounter
1969 Jul 31	0519:04	Mars flyby at 3429 km
	0927	End near encounter
1969 Aug 1	0335	Leave Mars sphere
	0546:15	Cruise mode
1969 Aug 7	1612	Resume playback mode
1969 Aug 11		UVS astronomy obs begins
1969 Nov 1		Begin extended mission
1970 Dec		Last contact
1974 Jan		Mars close approach 10Mkm?

Payload:

• TV camera

• IR spectrometer

• UV spectrometer

• IR radiometer, 8-12 mu, 18-25 mu. with 0.025m refracting telescopes

Apollo 13 (Aquarius)

  1970-029C

---

Lunar Module 7, the Apollo 13 LM, was intended to land at Fra Mauro. After the explosion on board the CSM, Odyssey, survival depended on using the LM as a lifeboat. The crew transferred into Aquarius as power on Odyssey failed, powering up the LM just in time. At 0842 on Apr 14 the LM's DPS engine was fired on a 30 second burn to put the ship back on a free-return trajectory. Two hours after skimming 252 km above the lunar farside, the DPS reignited (a burn called PC+2) for 4 min 30 sec to accelerate the return, as supplies began to run low. At 1315 on Apr 17 the Service Module was jettisoned, leaving the CM attached to the Lunar Module. This was the only time that this configuration (a Command Module/Lunar Module without a Service Module) ever flew. As the SM moved away, the destruction of the side bay was visible to the astronauts. At 1643 the crew, now back in Odyssey, undocked and let Aquarius fly on to its destruction in Earth's atmosphere. The Ascent and Descent stages remained attached up to reentry.

---

LM 7 Crew

---

• CDR Commander: James Lovell, Capt. USN

• CMP CM Pilot: John Swigert, NASA

• LMP LM Pilot: Fred Haise, NASA

LM 7
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1970 Apr 11	1913	Launch of SA-508, attached to S-IVB-508
1970 Apr 11	2314	Extracted from S-IVB by CSM 109	219 x 549183 x 31.83
1970 Apr 14	0119	Crew entry
1970 Apr 14	0159	Power up
1970 Apr 14	0300	Closeout
1970 Apr 14	0451	Crew entry and power-up
1970 Apr 14	0842:43	DPS burn, 0:30 (free-return)
	0843:18	DPS cutoff	-2046 x 577644 x 33.21
1970 Apr 15	0021	Begin farside pass
1970 Apr 15	0040	Pericynthion, 252 km
1970 Apr 15	0046	End of farside pass
1970 Apr 15	0240:39	PC+2 burn, DPS 4:30	265 x -12706 x 153.5
	0245:03	Cutoff	2243 x -12095 x 151.9
1970 Apr 15	1424?	Equigrav inbound
1970 Apr 16	0431:28	MCC-5, DPS mid course correction	-147 x 854824 x 30.7
	0431:42	MCC-5 CO	-261 x 853853 x 30.7
1970 Apr 17	1252:51	MCC-7, RCS mid-course correction (0:23)	47 x 834822 x 30.7
	1253:13	MCC-7 CO	41 x 836737 x 30.6
1970 Apr 17	1315:06	Sep from SM-109, still docked to CM-109	41 x 836791 x 30.6
1970 Apr 17	1315	Visual inspection of SM-109
1970 Apr 17	1600?	Crew transfer to Odyssey, hatch closed
1970 Apr 17	1643:02	Odyssey undocked from Aquarius	41 x 836791 x 30.64
1970 Apr 17	1750?	Reentry

HEAO 1

 1977-075A

---

HEAO A was the first in the series. Laucnhed on 1977 Aug 12 at 0629 by an Atlas Centaur from Cape Canaveral, High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1 was inserted in a 93.2 min, 428 x 447 km x 22.8 deg. HEAO 1 carried out an all-sky survey in hard x-rays with its four instruments. On 1979 Jan 8 the attitude control fuel ran out, and the satellite stopped transmitting two days later. It reentered on 1979 Mar 15.

HEAO 1
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1977 Aug 12	0629:31	Launch	CC LC36
		T+2:10 BECO
		T+2:23 Booster sep
		T+3:05 Insulation panels sep
	0633:42	T+4:11 SECO
	0633:44	T+4:13 Atlas sep
		T+4:23 Centaur MES-1
		T+4:35 Fairing
	0641:18	T+11:47 MECO
	0652:23	T+22:52 Centaur sep
	0652:33	T+23:02 Centaur retro
		T+1:13:17 Centaur blowdown
1979 Jan 8		RCS fuel expended
1979 Jan 10		end of operations
1979 Mar 15		Reentered

Hexagon 13

 1977-056A

---

SV-13 was the first Block III vehicle, with increased propellant capacity and improved batteries.

The spacecraft carried a supplementary Space Test Program experiment, the S76-1 NAVPAC autonomous navigation experiment. NAVPAC combines an accelerometer and Transit NNS receivers to derive the spacecraft's orbit.

The mapping camera operated until Oct 17, with the doppler beacn shut down on Oct 21. On Nov 6 the orbit was raised from 156 x 240 km to 158 x 265 km for the remainder of the mission, which ended on Dec 23.

HEXAGON 13
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1977 Jun 27	1830	Launch by Titan IIID	V SLC4E
		T+1:49? Stage 1 burn 2:27
		T+1:55 SRM burnout
		T+1:55 SRM sep
		T+4:16 Stage 1 MECO
		T+4:16 Stage 1 sep
		T+4:16 Stage 2 burn
		T+5:05? Fairing
	1837?	T+7:44? Stage 2 MECO
	1838?	T+8:00 Stage 2 sep
1977 Jun 27			88.43 155 x 239 x 97.0
1977 Jul 10			88.43 154 x 238 x 97.0
1977 Aug 1			88.33 154 x 229 x 97.0
1977 Aug 2	2143?	SRV-1 MAR
1977 Aug 3			88.51 156 x 244 x 97.0
1977 Aug 31			88.50 155 x 245 x 97.0
1977 Sep 5	2125?	SRV-2 water recovery
1977 Sep 29			88.38 158 x 229 x 97.0
1977 Oct 15			88.59 159 x 250 x 96.9
1977 Oct 17		Map op 253 last image
1977 Oct 18	2150?	SRV-5 deorbit opp
	2225?	SRV 1213-5 recovered after 113d
1977 Oct 21		DB-16 turned off
1977 Nov 1			88.48 157 x 241 x 96.99
1977 Nov 4	2225?	SRV-3 deorbit
1977 Nov 5	1236		88.27 153 x 225 x 96.9
		Perigee at 222 58
	1905?	Orbit raise	158 x 262
		Perigee at RA DEC = 216 35
		Apogee at RA DEC = 36 -35
1977 Nov 6	2236		88.71 158 x 262 x 96.9
1977 Nov 30			88.74 157 x 266 x 96.9
1977 Dec 6	0501		88.79 158 x 271 x 96.9
1977 Dec 19	2155?	SRV-4 MAR
1977 Dec 22	2317		88.63 159 x 254 x 96.9
1977 Dec 23		NAVPAC-1 turned off
1977 Dec 26	2200?	Deboost over Pacific

I didn't know I could do that on CompuServe!

https://welib.org/md5/c90811df88299fece80a9685800264e5

The History of the Thirty Years' War

 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/566/566.txt

The Atlantic Region to Confederation : A History

 https://welib.org/md5/95fa43a87b2f6a8c5409f49fdd022ae2 

Countdown: An Autobiography

https://welib.org/md5/88666f7936b5e935d8dd03a5e29f073a

Kosmos 651

  1974-029A

---

Kosmos-651 was the first of a pair of US-A reactor satellites and may have marked the initial operational use of the system, although the US-A system was not officially declared operational until after the next pair of flights were complete.

Kosmos-651
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1974 May 15	0730:00	Launch by 11K69	NIIP-5
	0732	Stage 2 burn
	0734	Stage 2 sep
	0744	DU burn
		DU cutoff, orbit
	0754?	Stage 2 reentry
	0849		89.64 246 x 267 x 65.0
1974 May 16	0230		89.64 250 x 264 x 65.0 (RAE)
1974 Jun 2			89.65 249 x 264 x 65.0
1974 Jul 25	0810		89.64 249 x 263 x 65.0
1974 Jul 25		DU and radar section sep
	1424?	Reactor section raise orbit	260 x 897 x 65.0
	1514?	DV2
	2056	Reactor section (approx)	103.48 915 x 930 x 65.0
1974 Jul 26	0023	Reactor section	103.47 890 x 954 x 65.0
1974 Jul 26	1430	DU section	89.51 243 x 258 x 65.0 (RAE 29B)
1974 Jul 27	0230	Radar section	89.57 245 x 262 x 65.0 (RAE 29C)
1974 Jul 30	0531?	DU section reentered
1974 Sep 1			103.45 892 x 954 x 65.0 (RAE 29A)
1974 Sep 5	0110?	Radar section reentered
1989 Nov 29			103.43 897 x 944 x 65.0
1998 Aug 7			103.41 889 x 950 x 65.0

Meteor 305

 1991-056A

---

Meteor-3 No. 5 was launched in Aug 1991. The 2150 kg satellite built by VNII-EM was placed in a 1200 km orbit. It was 4.2m long and 1.4m diameter. The local time of the orbit was 3 hr later than usual to support the US supplied ozone monitoring instrument. Control was from TsUP NNKhN (Nauchnovo i narodnokhozayistvennovo Naznacheniya), management by Goskogidromet SSSR.

Size is 4.2m long 4.6m dia 6.5m span with antenna

Meteor-3 No. 5
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1991 Aug 15	0914:59	Launch by Tsiklon-3 11K68	PL
	0916:15	T+2:00s Stage 1 sep
	0918:33	T+3:33s Fairing
	0918:53	Stage 2 cutoff
	0919:38	T+4:38s St 2 sep
		Coast
	0920:13	T+5:20s S5M ignited (2:20)
	0923:33	T+7:00s (0922) S5M cutoff
		Coast
	1003:58	T+48:58 S5M burn 2 (0:55)
	1004:13	T+49:13 S5M MECO
	1004:43	T+49:43 S5M sep	109.36 1183 x 1210 x 82.6
1994 Dec		TOMS FM-2 failed

Payload:

• Meteo cameras, swath 3100 km, 1 km res.

• IR imager, swath 3100 km, 3 km res.

• Spectrometer, 8 channels

• Radiometer, 12 channels

• IR cloud temperature system

• TOMS FM-2 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (NASA GSFC/Krueger) 

Luch 2

 1995-054A

---

The Luch-1 (Gelios No. 12) satellite launched on 1995 Oct 11 was the first of a new generation, replacing the original Luch/Al'tair series. It will be stationed at 77E. It is controlled from Ostankino/Moskva. Launch mass was around 2400 kg. In 1996 it was used to replace the 1994 Luch satellite for Mir relay duties.

The spacecraft was internally called Luch-2 by NPO-PM although the open cover name was Luch-1.

Luch 1
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1995 Oct 11	1626:00	Launch by Proton-K/Blok-DM-2	LB LC81L
	1635	Stage 3 sep
	1730?	DM burn 1
	2245?	DM burn 2
	2300?	DM sep
1995 Oct 11			1442.60 35864 x 35963 x 3.0 GEO 91.6E+1.6W
1995 Oct 24			1437.00 35794 x 35813 x 3.1 GEO 76.5E+0.2W
1995 Oct 26		On station	GEO 76.6E
1995 Oct 31			1436.03 35757 x 35812 x 3.0 GEO 76.7E
1996 May 6			1436.13 35761 x 35812 x 2.6 GEO 76.9E
1996 Aug 15		Begin Mir relay

Gambit-3 37

  1972-103A

---

KH-8 37 was launched on 1972 Dec 21 by Titan 23B Agena D from Vandenberg. It remained in orbit for a record 33 days (31 photo and 2 solo). It was the first Block III vehicle, with an improved roll joint that supported 18000 maneuvers per mission.

KH-8 37
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1972 Dec 21	1745	Launch by Titan 23B Agena D	V SLC4W
	1747	Titan stage 1 sep
	1750	Titan stage 2 sep
	1750	Agena burn
	1755?	Agena MECO
1972 Dec 22	0514		89.94 138 x 404 x 110.5
1972 Dec 4	0810		89.73 135 x 387 x 110.4
1972 Dec 25	1704		89.65 138 x 376 x 110.4
		Orbit raise
1972 Dec 26	2130		89.81 139 x 390 x 110.4
1972 Dec 30	0019		89.70 135 x 383 x 110.4
		Orbit raise
1972 Dec 30	2115		89.80 132 x 396 x 110.4
1973 Jan 22	0101	SRV-2 deorbit?
	0106?	Entry
	0130?	Recovered
1973 Jan 23	2314?	Reentered after 33d

Kosmos 1873

 1987-071A

---

EPN No. 03.695 (Tselina-2 mass model plus ballast). The illustration at the TsENKI web site shows a large diameter service module with a smaller, longer cylinder payload.

Kosmos-1873
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1987 Aug 28	0820:00	Launch by Zenit-2	KB
	0822	T+2:23 St 1 MECO
	0822	T+2:25 Stage 1 sep
	0822	T+2:25 Stage 2 burn
	0822	T+2:40 GO sep
	0826	T+6:42 Stage 2 MECO	150? x 850? x 71.0
	0830?	T+10m? Stage 2 VECO
	0830?	Stage 2 sep motor covers
	0830?	T+10m? Stage 2 sep
1987 Aug 28			178x243x64.83
1987 Aug 28			88.82 177x255x64.8
1987 Sep 1		end of ops
1987 Sep 10			88.07 161x198x64.8
1987 Sep 14			86.81 113x119x64.8
1987 Sep 15		reentered

Hay Ride

 https://welib.org/md5/3ae7cb31d1bb57113860e8a32fcc9e80