Saturday, October 4, 1997
Sputnik 1
1957-001B
After the first successful flight of the R-7 (8K71) ICBM in August 1957, Korol"ev got permission to launch a satellite with it. The first satellite was called PS-1, or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 1, the ``Simplest Satellite''. The name contrasted with the original plan to launch a much larger and more sophisticated satellite known as Object D (see below). PS-1 was a simple sphere with a mass of 81 kg, and carried a temperature sensor and a radio transmitter. It was launched from Baikonur at 4 seconds past 1928 UTC on October 4, 1957. The two-stage 8K71 rocket is known in this context as the Sputnik or 8K71PS launch vehicle.
The 8K71PS, serial number M1-1PS, took off from pad 1 at NIIP-5. Almost immediately it ran into problems: the Blok-G strapon engine was slow in building up thrust, which could have triggered an automatic launch abort. A tank control system failure at T+16 seconds resulted in excessive kerosene consumption and depletion resulting in shutdown one second prior to the planned 4min 56s cutoff time. The resulting apogee was about 80 km short of the planned one.
The sphere was placed in orbit around the earth with a perigee of 215 km and an apogee of 939 km. The inclination of its orbit to the Earth's equator was 65.1 degrees. The satellite, referred to at the time in the Soviet press as the First ISZ ( Isskusstvenniy Sputnik Zemli or Artificial Earth SatelliteISZ, 1-y and in English-speaking countries as Sputnik One, transmitted its `beep beep' radio signal until October 27. Friction with the upper atmosphere caused the satellite to reenter on Jan 4, 1958. The much larger Blok-A (sometimes also called Blok-Ts, for `central stage') rocket core from the Sputnik launch vehicle was also placed in orbit, and reentered on December 1. Following the suggestion of Fred Whipple at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the international Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) assigned the designation 1957 Alpha to the first satellite launch of year 1957; the first object to be seen by observers on the ground was the huge rocket stage, and this got the designation 1957 Alpha 1, leaving the payload itself to get the designation 1957 Alpha 2. (This system of international designations remained in force until 1963, when the Greek letters were replaced by Arabic numerals, and the numerals for individual objects were replaced by letters. Thus the 82nd launch of 1965 was 1965-82, and the pieces of that launch were labelled 82A, 82B, ... 82Z, 82AA, 82 AB, ... 82AZ, 82 BA,.., with the letters I and O excluded to avoid confusion with the numbers one and zero). Another designation system was the NORAD satellite catalog number, which is purely numerical: the rocket stage was catalog number 1, and the PS-1 satellite was catalog number 2. A nose cone covered the satellite at launch; it separated at orbit insertion and was observed as 1957 Alpha 3, but it was not given a NORAD catalog number. The final stage was observed to be magnitude -2 to +2 by visual observers, with the satellite being mag 4 to 6.
Mass of the final stage in orbit was 7790 kg according to the mass table in the 1985 Glushko encyclopedia.
| PS-1 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 Oct 4 | 1928:04 | Launch by 8K71PS | KB LC1 |
| 1930:00 | T+116s Blok-BVGD sep | ||
| 1932:58 | Blok-A cutoff, orbit insertion | ||
| 1933:18? | GO sep? | ||
| 1933:18 | Blok-A sep | 215 x 939 x 65.1 | |
| 1957 Oct 27 | End of transmissions | ||
| 1957 Dec 1 | Blok A reentered over E Siberia/Alaska | ||
| 1958 Jan 4 | Reentered | ||
Friday, October 3, 1997
Navstar 24
1991-047A
Navstar SVN 24 (USA 71) was launched on 1991 Jul 4. The LOSAT-X satellite was ejected from the Delta second stage into a 40 deg orbit.
| Navstar 24 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 Jul 4 | 0232 | Launch by Delta 7925 | CC LC17 |
| SRM 1-9 sep | |||
| St 1 sep | |||
| 0236 | T+4:40? SES-1 | ||
| 0243 | T+11:00? SECO-1 | 185 x 185 x 34? | |
| T+20? SES-2 36s? | |||
| 0252 | T+20? SECO-2 | 180? x 400? x 34? | |
| 0253 | T+21:03 St 2 sep | ||
| T+21:03 Delta/PAM-D sep | |||
| 0254 | T+22? TES 1:24 | ||
| 0255 | T+23? TECO | ||
| 0257 | T+25? St 3 sep | 354.53 188 x 20241 x 34.5 | |
| 0336? | SES-3 Delta burn | ||
| 0337 | T+1:05:30 LOSAT-X sep | 92.70 400 x 413 x 39.97 | |
| 0413? | SES-4 Delta depletion | 92.56 392 x 407 x 37.5 | |
| 1991 Jul 5 | 2339? | Star 37XFP burn | |
| 1991 Jul 10 | 2130 | 711.02 19765 x 20255 x 55.3 | |
| 1991 Aug 30 | Operational (Plane D-1) | ||
| 1997 Feb 1 | Operating at slot D-1 | ||
Thursday, October 2, 1997
Lewis
1997-044A
Lewis, built by TRW for NASA's SSTI (Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative) was one of the first Earth remote sensing satellites with combined high spatial and spectral resolution, having 384 spectral channels and a 30-m ground resolution in the 0.4 to 2.5 micron wavelength band. The panchromatic camera had 5-m resolution. The satellite was built by TRW/Redondo Beach and operated by TRW/Chantilly, VA, with NASA HQ having a minimal management oversight role and NASA-Stennis involved in data distribution. Mass is 403 kg full (194 kg bus, 81 kg instrument, 12 kg fuel, 116 kg u/k). Uses LEOStar/STEP bus. Size is a 1.50m hexagon 2.0m tall. The satellite was named after Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809), the American explorer. A companion satellite, Clark, was cancelled in 1998.
After delays caused partly by the failure of the first LMLV, Lewis was launched on 1997 Aug 23 into a 300 km parking orbit. Planned final orbit was 523 x 523 x 97.4. However, three days after launch the attitude control system malfunctioned, using up most of the fuel and leaving the spacecraft's solar panels pointing away from the Sun with the bus spinning at 2 revs per minute. The craft rapidly lost power and fell silent. The investigation determined that a badly designed safemode was initially to blame. A processor switch during launch was the first anomaly, and a solid state recorder failure prevented playback of launch data, complicating interpretation; and the operations team failed to declare a spacecraft emergency and call up additional resources when problems began.
The requalified LMLV was built by LMA/Denver instead of LMSC/Sunnyvale. The payload fairing is 3.9m x 2.0m. Although described as a 2-stage rocket, LMLV-1 really has three stages. Stage 2 cuts out at 190 km altitude and 900 km downrange; the OAM third stage burns from then until 320 km altitude and 12000 km downrange, imparting 620 kNs of impulse and 0.3 km/s of velocity. The LMLV OAM, built by Primex Aerospace and LMA, reached orbit with the satellite.
| Lewis | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 Aug 23 | 0651:01 | Launch by LMLV-1 | V SLC6 |
| 0652:30 | T+1:29 Castor 120 MECO | ||
| 0653:26 | T+2:25 PLF sep | ||
| 0653:31 | T+2:30 Orbus 21D burn | ||
| 0656:05 | T+5:04 Orbus 21D MECO | -340 x 200 x 97? | |
| -760? x 220? x 97 | |||
| 0656:06 | T+5:05 OAM ignition 16:41 | ||
| 0712:47 | T+21:46 OAM shutdown | ||
| 0722:05 | T+31:04 OAM sep | ||
| 293 x 305 x 97 | |||
| B-side processor in control | |||
| 1730 | SSR telemetry loss | ||
| 1997 Aug 25 | 1417 | Loss of Earth lock attitude | |
| 1700? | Attitude restored on command in safe mode | ||
| 2100 | Ops team off duty | ||
| 1997 Aug 26 | 0802 | Ops team reacquire | |
| 0805 | Spacecraft in flat spin | ||
| 1017 | Commanded thruster firing | ||
| 1100? | loss of power | ||
| 1997 Sep 28 | 0930 | 87.53 145 x 159 x 97.53 | |
| 1030 | 87.16 124 x 143 x 97.55 | ||
| 1129 | Reentered | ||
Payload:
- HSI Hyperspectral imager: 30-m resolution, plus 5-m panchromatic band
- UCB Ultraviolet Cosmic Background, Diffuse EUV cosmic background radiometer, UCB
- LEISA Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array 256 channel spectrometer, GSFC
Wednesday, October 1, 1997
Tuesday, September 30, 1997
STS-61-B (Atlantis)
1985-109A
The second flight of Atlantis was one of the most ambitious of the 1985 missions. Three PAM-D satellite deployments were followed by a pair of spacewalks to study on-orbit assembly. A single GAS can carried experiments by Canadian high school students. The Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System and a 3M experiment for Diffuse Mixing in Organic Solids (DMOS) flew on the middeck.
After launch on 1985 Nov 27, the Mexican Morelos communications satellite was deployed only 5 hours after payload bay door opening. Morelos was a standard American-built Hughes HS-376 model spinning comsat, but because of its presence the Mexican government had been invited to send along a payload specialist, Dr. Rodolfo Neri Vela. Dr. Neri carried out a series of mid-deck experiments under the MPSE (Morelos Payload Specialist Experiments) program, mostly life sciences related.
The following day, the Aussat satellite and the Satcom K-2 satellite were deployed.
Nov 29 saw the first spacewalk of the mission. Sherwood `Woody' Spring and Jerry Ross entered the payload bay and practiced assembling and disassembling two large structures mounted on a payload bay MPESS carried. ACCESS consisted of a truss structure made of many small components, while the rival EASE was a tetrahedron consisting of a few large tubes joined by special nodes. During the EVA, Spring carried out a small device called OET from the airlock, and jettisoned it into space by hand. The OET (OEX Target, Orbiter Experiments Target) was a radar target to allow Atlantis to perform rendezvous experiments.
After a day of rest, Spring and Ross returned to the bay for EVA-2. This EVA continued the work of the first, with the EASE and ACCESS structures being reassembled and disassembled.
Atlantis returned to Earth on Dec 3, landing at Edwards AFB.
| STS 61-B | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 Nov 8 | Tow to VAB | VAB/3 | |
| 1985 Nov 8 | ET mate | ||
| 1985 Nov 12 | Rollout | LC39A | |
| 1985 Nov 27 | 0029:00 | Launch from LC39A | |
| 0031:03 | SRB sep at 44.7 km | ||
| 0037:31 | MECO at 109.9 km | 88.63 63 x 350 x 28.5 | |
| 0037:49 | ET sep at 112.1 km | 88.72 69 x 353 x 28.5 | |
| 0109:24 | OMS-2 (3:00) 85m/s | ||
| 0112:25 | OMS-2 CO | 91.66 353 x 359 x 28.5 | |
| 0202 | PLBD open | ||
| 0746:50 | Morelos deploy | ||
| 0802 | OMS-3 (RH 13s) 3m/s | 91.78 356 x 366 x 28.5 | |
| 1985 Nov 28 | 0120:33 | Aussat deploy | |
| 0135 | OMS-4 (RH 13s) 3m/s | 91.90 364 x 370 x 28.5 | |
| 2157:31 | Satcom deploy | ||
| 2213? | OMS-5 (LH 16s) 4m/s | 92.04 368 x 381 x 28.5 | |
| 1985 Nov 29 | |||
| 2143 | EVA-1 depress? | ||
| 1985 Nov 29 | 2145 | EVA-1 (05:32) | |
| 2147 | Hatch open | ||
| Spring, Ross egress | |||
| 2200? | Begin ACCESS experiment | ||
| 2245? | ACCESS assembled bays 1-10 | ||
| Disassemble ACCESS | |||
| 2311 | Stow ACCESS | ||
| 2316 | at PSA | ||
| 1985 Nov 29 | 2330? | EASE experiment | |
| Assemble/disassemble 6 times | |||
| 2335? | Cycle 1 | ||
| 2350? | Cycle 2 | ||
| 1985 Nov 30 | 0010? | Cycle 3 | |
| 0030? | Cycle 4 | ||
| 0050? | Cycle 5 | ||
| 0115? | Cycle 6 | ||
| 0130? | Cycle 7 | ||
| 0155? | Cycle 8 | ||
| 0215? | Stow EASE | ||
| 0224 | In airlock | ||
| 0225 | Obtain AAPS target (OET) | ||
| 1985 Nov 30 | 0230 | OET deployed by Spring | 92.06 368 x 382 x 28.5 |
| 0240 | Moving RMS for OEX deploy obs | ||
| 0255 | Target stable | ||
| 0310 | Ingress procedures | ||
| 0317 | End EVA-1 | ||
| 0323 | Repress | ||
| 0816? | Stationkeep with OET (DAP test) at 10m | ||
| 1130 | End OET test | 92.08 368 x 383 x 28.5 | |
| 1985 Dec 1 | 0140? | OMS-6 (RH 49s) 15m/s | 91.60 322 x 383 x 28.5 |
| 2022 | Depress? | ||
| 2023 | Hatch open? | ||
| 1985 Dec 1 | 2030 | EVA-2 (06:38) | |
| 2030? | Spring, Ross egress | ||
| 2037 | Working with MFR | ||
| 2050? | MFR grapple | ||
| 2100? | ACCESS configured, built 1-9 | ||
| 2129? | Getting in MFR | ||
| 2130? | EV-1 in MFR, built bay 10 | ||
| 2230? | EV-1 manipulate ACCESS from MFR | ||
| 2240? | EV-1 off MFR | ||
| 2245? | EV-2 on MFR | ||
| 2250? | Disassemble bay 10 | ||
| Task work on bay 8 | |||
| 2330? | Rebuild bay 10 | ||
| 2340? | EV-2 on MFR manipulate ACCESS | ||
| 2350? | Disassemble ACCESS | ||
| 1985 Dec 2 | 0000? | EV-2 off MFR | |
| 0010? | Stow ACCESS, unstow EASE | ||
| 0015? | EV2 on MFR | ||
| 0030? | Work with heat pipe assembly | ||
| 0045? | Build EASE | ||
| 0100? | EV2 manipulate EASE | ||
| 0110? | EV2 off MFR, EV1 on | ||
| 0115? | EV1 manipulate EASE | ||
| 0145? | EV1 in MFR disassemble EASE | ||
| 0155? | EV1 build heat pipe | ||
| 0215? | EV1 egress MFR | ||
| 0225? | Stow EASE | ||
| 0230? | Stow MFR | ||
| 0230 | Cleanup | ||
| 332 x 382 x 28.5 | |||
| 0256? | Ingress | ||
| 0258 | HC | ||
| 1985 Dec 2 | 0308 | End EVA-2 | |
1985 Dec 3 | 1716 | PLBD close | 91.62 322 x 384 x 28.5 |
| 1985 Dec 3 | 2026:45 | OMS DO (169s) 96 m/s | |
| 2029:34 | OMS DO CO | ||
| 2103:17 | Entry | ||
| 2133:49 | Landed at RW22 EAFB | ||
| 2134:00 | NGTD | ||
| 2135:07 | Wheels stop | ||
| 1985 Dec 7 | 1430 | SCA takeoff | EAFB |
| 1750 | SCA landing | Kelly AFB TX | |
| 1932 | SCA takeoff | ||
| 2215 | SCA landing | KSC SLF | |
| 1985 Dec 8 | 0330 | Tow to OPF | |
Monday, September 29, 1997
Kosmos 205
1968-016A
Zenit-2 No. 58 was launched in Mar 1968 from Plesetsk. It landed 300 km W of Tselinograd at 50 58 N 67 09 E.
| Kosmos-205 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 Mar 5 | 1230 | Launch by 11A57 | NIIP-53 LC41/1 |
| 1234 | Blok-I burn | ||
| 1239 | Blok-I sep | 89.4 199 x 292 x 65.7 | |
| 89.4 201 x 310 x 65.7 (TASS) | |||
| 1514 | 89.39 196 x 292 x 65.7 | ||
| 1968 Mar 11 | 1709 | 89.24 193 x 280 x 65.6 | |
| 1968 Mar 13 | 0621? | Deorbit | |
| 0621? | PO sep | ||
| 0645 | Landed after 7.76d | ||
Parcae 1
1976-038A
The first PARCAE satellite was launched on 30 Apr 1976. According to the NRL list, the dispenser was designated MSD (Multiple Satellite Dispenser) and operated for 41 days.
| PARCAE 1 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 Apr 30 | 1912 | Launch by Atlas F | |
| 1914 | T+2:04 Booster sep | ||
| 1914 | T+2:24 Fairing | ||
| 1917 | T+5:21? SECO | ||
| 1917? | Atlas sep | -790? x 1050 x 63.5 | |
| 1939? | Kick stage burn | ||
| 1941? | Plume shield sep | ||
| 1976 May 12? | PL181 deployed | ||
| 1976 May 12? | PL183 deployed | ||
| 1976 May 13? | PL182 deployed | ||
| 107.5 1092 x 1128 x 63.5 | |||
| 1976 Jun 10 | end of transmissions | ||
Sunday, September 28, 1997
Kosmos 884
1976-123A
N. Johnson reports that Kosmos-884 was destroyed on Dec 29 after recovery failed, according to Russian sources. The absence of the usual signs of such a failure makes me wonder if the claim could be an error for another satellite.
| Kosmos-884 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 Dec 17 | 0930 | Launch by Soyuz-U | Baikonur |
| 0934 | Blok-I burn | ||
| 0938 | Blok-I sep | ||
| 1976 Dec 17 | 89.62 167 x 344 x 65.1 | ||
| 1976 Dec 18 | 89.33 165 x 318 x 65.0 | ||
| 1976 Dec 23 | 89.23 164 x 307 x 65.0 | ||
| 1976 Dec 24 | 89.68 169 x 347 x 65.0 | ||
| 1976 Dec 25 | 89.66 169 x 336 x 65.0 | ||
| 1976 Dec 26 | Change orbit | 89.83 170 x 361 x 65.0 | |
| 1976 Dec 27 | Change orbit | 89.39 169 x 319 x 65.0 | |
| 1976 Dec 28 | KDU ejected | ||
| 1976 Dec 29 | 0601? | Deorbit | |
| 0611? | PO sep? | ||
| 0615? | Entry? | ||
| 0631? | Landed | ||