Town and Country: February 2000

 https://welib.org/md5/ae03dada5b8d1568ccfea65fd861e797

Kosmos 881/882

  1976-121A

---

Kosmos-881 was the first of the dual-launch TKS VA reentry tests. It was 11F74 No 009A/1 (the A designated the presence of an ADU - Avariynaya DU, escape engine).

It is possible that none of the TLEs available are for the payloads. The single B TLE seems to be for object C, while the A and early C TLEs are for a rapidly decaying object. The D TLEs appear to be consistent with a single object although E may be mixed in.

Kosmos-881
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1976 Dec 15	0130	Launch by Proton	KB
	0132	T+2:50 ADU sep
		Stage 1 sep
		Stage 2 sep
	0139	Stage 3 MECO
	0139	Stage 3 sep
	0139	MECO+0s Kosmos-881 and TDU sep from LVI
	0139	MECO+2s Kosmos-882 sep from LVI
1976 Dec 15.18			88.91 200x242x51.60
1976 Dec 15.36			88.82 198x234x51.60
	0145	Begin deorbit procedure
	0245?	Kosmos-881 deorbit TDU burn after 1 rev
	0255?	BSO sep
	0303?	Entry
	0335?	Landed

Kosmos 882 was VA No. 009/1, the lower VA with no ADU.

Kosmos-882
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1976 Dec 15		Launch by Proton	KB
1976 Dec 15.36 88.53 190x214x51.60
	0245?	Kosmos-882 deorbit TDU burn after 1 rev
	0255?	BSO sep
	0303?	Entry
	0335?	Landed

Kosmos 2263

 1993-059A

---

Kosmos-2263
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1993 Sep 16	0736:19	Launch by Zenit	KB LC45
	0738	T+2:23 St 1 MECO
	0738	T+2:25 Stage 1 sep
	0738	T+2:25 Stage 2 burn
	0738	T+2:40 GO sep
	0744	T+6:42 Stage 2 MECO	150? x 850? x 71.0
		Sep motor cover perigee
	0749?	T+13m? Stage 2 VECO
	0749?	Stage 2 sep motor covers
	0749?	T+13m? Stage 2 sep
1993 Sep 16			848x854x71.0

NATO 3A

  1976-035A

---

NATO 3A was at 18W from 1976 to 1982, then at 30W from 1983 to 1984 Oct. From 1984 Oct to 1985 Mar it was at 50W, then it returned to 30W. In 1989 it was moved to 125W. In 1991 NATO 3A was stored at 40E, and then maneuvered to a drift orbit. At the end of 1992 the orbit was boosted and the satellite decommissioned.

NATO IIIA
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1976 Apr 22	2046:00	Launch by Delta 2914	CC LC17
		T+0:38 SRM 1-6 off
		T+0:39 SRM 7-9 on
		T+1:17 SRM 7-9 off
		T+1:27 SRM 1-9 sep
		T+3:44 MECO
		T+3:53 St 1 sep
		T+3:58 SES-1
	2050	T+4:40 Fairing
	2054	T+8:53 SECO-1 7.4 km/s 161 km	160 x 350? x 28.5?
	2110	T+24:22 SES-2
	2110	T+24:32 SECO-2
	2111	T+25:24 St 2 sep	179 x 717 x 28.26
	2112	T+26:06 TES
	2112	T+26:49 TECO
	2114	T+28:02 St 3 sep	178 x 35903 x 27.0
1976 Apr 24	2031	AKM	GEO 169W+4/d
1976 Apr 25			1423.14 35209 x 35863 x 2.90
1976 Apr 27		On station	GEO 15.5W
1976 Jul 26		Operational
1977 Jan 25			1436.11 35772 x 35801 x 2.5 GEO 17.8W
1978 Feb 14			1436.17 35780 x 35795 x 1.8 GEO 18.3W
1981 May 21			1436.15 35784 x 35791 x 1.4 GEO 18.1W
1982 Feb 3			1436.16 35776 x 35799 x 1.7 GEO 17.8W
1982 Dec 8			1436.12 35775 x 35798 x 2.2 GEO 17.8W
1982 Dec		mv out
1983 Feb		mv in
1983 Feb 4			1436.08 35777 x 35795 x 2.4 GEO 29.1W
1983 Apr 7			1436.30 35773 x 35807 x 2.4 GEO 30.7W
1984 Sep 13			1436.17 35778 x 35797 x 3.5 GEO 29.3W
1984 Oct 1		mv	1435.75 35777 x 35782 x 3.5 GEO 49.6W+0.08E
1985 Jan 3			1436.08 35773 x 35799 x 3.8 GEO 49.1W
1985 Feb 20			1436.29 35777 x 35803 x 3.8 GEO 50.5W+0.06W
1985 Mar		Return to 30W
1985 Apr 2			1436.22 35772 x 35805 x 3.9 GEO 30.5W
1985 Aug 14			1436.39 35768 x 35816 x 4.1 GEO 31.5W
1987 Sep 11			1436.06 35777 x 35794 x 5.9 GEO 29.6W
1989 Jan 13			1435.88 35772 x 35792 x 6.9 GEO 30.3W
1989 Jan 29		mv out	1439.91 35752 x 35972 x 7.0
1989 Mar 15			1440.03 35783 x 35943 x 7.1
1989 Apr 11		mv in	1436.09 35783 x 35789 x 7.2 GEO 124.8W
1990 Jan 2			1436.05 35775 x 35795 x 7.8 GEO 125.5W
1991 Jan 3			1436.00 35778 x 35791 x 8.6 GEO 125.1W
1991 Feb 9			1435.87 35773 x 35791 x 8.6 GEO 123.6W
1991 Mar 18		mv	1435.98 35768 x 35800 x 8.8 GEO 40.2E
1991 May 26			1435.91 36765 x 35800 x 8.9 GEO 40.4E+0.04E
1991 Jul 4		mv out	1435.62 35747 x 35807 x 9.0 GEO 43.6E+0.1E
1991 Sep 9			1438.00 35794 x 35853 x 9.1 GEO 34.4E+0.4W
1992 Apr 19			1437.13 35766 x 35847 x 9.6 GEO 27.2W+0.3W
1992 Dec 16			1438.02 35678 x 35970 x 10.0 GEO 121.9W+0.5W
1992 Dec 17		mv up	1442.36 35806 x 36011 x 10.0

Navstar 51

 2000-025A

---

Launch mass was 2032 kg. SVN 51 was placed in slot E-1 replacing GPS II-1.

GPS SVN 51 (IIR-4)
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
2000 May 11	0148:00	Launch by Delta II	CC LC17A
		T+1:06 SRM 1-6 sep
		T+2:11 SRM 7-9 sep
		T+4:20 MECO
		T+4:34 SES
		T+4:50 Fairing sep	-3600 x 130?
	0158	T+10:44 SECO-1	175 x 393 x 36.9?
		T+19:53 SES-2
	0208	T+20:29 SECO-2	200 x 1251 x 37.0
	0209	T+21:59 TES
		T+23:25 TECO
	0213	T+25:19 St 3 sep, 366 km	185 x 20300
	0321	T+1:33 SECO-3	197 x 1331 x 37.6
2000 May 12			356.79 175 x 20395 x 39.1
2000 May 13	1653:30?	Star 37 burn
2000 May 14			712.47 19884 x 20208 x 54.9
2000 May 16			715.25 20012 x 20216 x 54.9

Crisis Point

 https://welib.org/md5/3f5f51994b95889d8f86c3e6325c50a9

Kosmos 2283

 1994-042A

---

Kosmos-2283 operated for 71 days in summer 1994 in a standard 67.1 degree Yantar' mission profile.

Kosmos-2283
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1994 Jul 20	1734:59	Launch by Soyuz-U	PL LC43
	1743	Blok-I sep
1994 Jul 20			89.50 169 x 330 x 67.1
1994 Jul 25	0200?		89.29 165 x 313 x 67.1
1994 Jul 25	0600?	Orbit raise	89.80 179 x 349 x 67.1
1994 Jul 30	1300		89.62 171 x 339 x 67.1
1994 Jul 31	0400?	Orbit raise	90.13 187 x 373 x 67.1
1994 Aug 14		SpK-1 fid
1994 Aug 18	1934		89.21 176 x 295 x 67.1
1994 Aug 18	2230		89.45 180 x 313 x 67.1
1994 Aug 23	1416		89.26 177 x 297 x 67.1
1994 Aug 24	0814	Orbit raise	89.78 174 x 353 x 67.1
1994 Aug 24	1243		89.85 176 x 357 x 67.1
1994 Sep 5		SpK-2 fid
1994 Sep 7	1232		89.13 169 x 294 x 67.1
1994 Sep 7	2132	Orbit raise	89.98 187 x 358 x 67.1
1994 Sep 21	0406		89.49 183 x 314 x 67.1
1994 Sep 21	1325	Orbit raise	89.77 182 x 343 x 67.1
1994 Sep 26			89.46 180 x 315 x 67.1
1994 Sep 29
	1818?	Deorbit
	1832?	Entry
	1844?	Land

Seventeen: March 2000

 https://welib.org/md5/6a3ce2e73be644c475ed62c53a698e6e

The High School Journal: December 1999-January 2000

 https://welib.org/md5/31a6e5a050554309b9e35893c6f77e47

Kosmos 973

 1977-124A

---

PDM telemetry; capsule carried, possibly 27KS or 26KS.

Kosmos-973
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1977 Dec 27	0920	Launch by Soyuz-U	Baikonur
	0924	Blok-I burn
	0928	Blok-I sep
1977 Dec 27			89.78 202 x 324 x 71.5
1978 Jan 7			89.66 199 x 316 x 71.4
1978 Jan 8		Capsule sep
1978 Jan 9
	0645?	Deorbit
	0655?	PO sep
	0701?	Entry
	0716?	Landed

Telstar 2

  1963-013A

---

The second Telstar was similar to the first. It was designated TSX 2, or A-41 in the NASA system. The launch may have involved a yaw burn to increase inclination.

Telstar 2
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1963 May 7	1138:03	Launch by Delta B	CC LC17A
	1140	Thor sep
	1140	Delta S/N 20005 burn
	1145?	Delta SECO	-2767? x 980 x 42.7
			-2314? x 980 x 34?
	1152?	Altair burn
	1153	Stage 3 sep	974 x 10803 x 42.73
1963 Jul 16		Telemetry issues
1963 Aug 12		Recovered
1965 May 7		End of transmissions

USA-40

 1989-061B

---

The USA 40 satellite was deployed on mission STS-28R in Aug 1989 into a 300 km, 57 degree orbit. Amateur observers recorded it raise its orbit to 432 x 487 km a week later, and noted that it was spin stabilized based on optical flashing - the mystery satellite was nicknamed the `Flasher'. Further small burns were made in early November, and then in mid November it was lost by observers. At the same time Space Command cataloged a rocket stage, `USA 40 R/B', implying that this rocket had just separated from USA 40. The obvious implication is that a major burn had placed USA 40 in a higher orbit, with the rocket stage separating after completion of its task. It is now believed that the orbit was a Molniya-type 12 hour, 63 degree elliptical path like those used by the SDS satellites.

The three month wait between deployment and orbit raising might just have been to let the orbital plane precess to a desired longitude, but this seems rather unlikely. It is possible that the three month delay may have involved a separate mission; this recalls the original plan for the CRRES science satellite, which in its Shuttle launched incarnation was to have carried out a several-month low orbit radiation study mission followed by a high orbit chemical release mission. Another explanation would be a partial failure of control of some kind. Perhaps the attitude control system failed and the motor firing was postponed until appropriate new software and/or control techniques were developed. However, the fact that the second flight (USA 89, below) may also have had a several month low orbit phase argues against a failure.

Another open issue is the nature of the upper stage. It seems likely that the small maneuvers made early in the mission may be a liquid propulsion system associated with the payload itself, while the separately cataloged rocket stage was used for a single burn and may be a solid motor. Cargo bay drawings of the USA 89 flight suggest a configuration similar to the Hughes Leasat; Hughes was also contractor for the first generation SDS, so design commonality with Leasat would be plausible although for a dedicated Shuttle mission the mass must be significantly higher. Nevertheless a Minuteman-3-third-stage-class solid perigee motor, either the CSD Orbus 7S or more likely the similar Thiokol TU-844, must be one of the prime candidates for the USA 40 upper stage. A Star 48 or Star 63 (PAM D) would have used the sunshade ASE and there is no evidence of this. The Leasat used a Thiokol motor, while the more powerful Orbus 21S was used in TOS. The latter required an IUS type tilt table, also incompatible with the payload bay arrangement for STS 53 (if that diagram can be trusted). I conclude that an TU-844/Leasat class vehicle is the most probable configuration for the USA 40 type payloads, but the 7t mass of such a vehicle is lower than one would expect. Dwayne Day has concluded that the satellite is actually derived from the Intelsat 6 bus, the HS-389.

Another factor is that it appears that Orbus 6 motors have been used in some classified application, and this is the most likely option for that application; and the R4D-11 engine was used on some classified Hughes satellite around that time. I conclude that a plausible configuration for the SDS Mark II is an Intelsat-6 or Leasat-type bus with a TU-844 or Orbus 6 solid PKM and an R4D-11 liquid apogee engine for orbit trim burns.

For the sake of experiment, let us assume a further burn a couple of days later at perigee, 1956 UTC on Dec 2, to a Molniya orbit of 507 x 39400 x 63. We estimate that the pre and post burn mass are of order 5277 kg and 3000 kg; this would give a dV of around 1.7 km/s. The burn to Molniya orbit needs about 1.4 km/s for the apogee increase, but around 4.9 km/s if the inclination change is included - this seems large. The inc change is less than 1 km/s if it is done at equator crossing: a total of 1.82 km/s is needed for a burn at 1926 UTC at southbound equator crossing at an altitude of 3200 km; this is much cheaper and fits the Orbus 7S capability pretty well for an SDS-like final orbit of 1040 x 39400 x 63 deg. The higher perigee is a natural consquence of doing the burn away from transfer orbit perigee. Apogee is at high northern latitudes as required.

USA 40
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1989 Aug 8		Launch by Shuttle
1989 Aug 8	1835?	Deployed from OV-102	300 x 300 x 57
1989 Aug 10		Fiducial burn 37m/s	295 x 432 x 57
1989 Aug 11		Fiducial burn 49m/s	431 x 469 x 57
1989 Aug 16		Raised orbit, spinning	432 x 487 x 57
1989 Oct		Reduced flashing noted
1989 Nov 8		Raise orbit	409 x 510 x 57.0
1989 Nov 13	0400		93.63 401 x 502 x 57.0 (CSS)
1989 Nov 30?		Upper stage burn - about 1284 m/s	504 x 8161 x 57.0
1989 Nov 30		Upper stage sep	532 x 8135 x 57.0
1989 Dec?			500? x 39400? x 63? (Speculation)
1989 Dec 2	1953	Notional LAM burn 4.94km/s?

Fortune: March 6,2000

 https://welib.org/md5/43f9ed82927b350a1761e27be2339b27

Soyuz 37

 1980-064A

---

7K-T 11F615A8 No. 53 (Soyuz-37) was the transport ship for Viktor Gorbatko and Pham Tuan, the Soviet-Vietnamese Interkosmos crew which flew during the 1980 Olympics. It also functioned as the return ship for the EO-4 crew, Popov and Ryumin.

Soyuz-37
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1980 Jul 23	1833	Launch by Soyuz-U	KB
	1835	Blok BVGD sep
	1837	Blok A sep
	1841	Blok I MECO
	1841	Blok-I sep	89.07 190 x 273 x 51.58
1980 Jul 24			89.97 258 x 293 x 51.49
			89.97 246 x 305 x 51.62
	2002	Docked with Salyut-6 +X
	2300	Hatch open, crew to Salyut-6
1980 Aug 1	1510	EO-4 crew to Soyuz (Popov, Ryumin)
	1643	Undocked
	1710	Redocked -X
	1755	EO-4 crew to Salyut
1980 Oct 11	0450	EO-4 crew to Soyuz
	0630	Undocked -X
	0900?	Retrofire
	0904?	DO CO
	0921?	Modules sep
	0926?	Entry
	0949:57	Landed 180 km SE of Dzezkazgan

Navstar 18

 1990-008A

---

Navstar 18 (SVN 18/PRN 18, USA 50) was launched into plane F on 1990 Jan 24. It was positioned at plane F-3.

Navstar 18
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1990 Jan 24	2255:01	Launch by Delta 6925	CC LC17
		T+0:56 SRM 1-3,7-9 out
		T+1:01 SRM 4-6 on
		T+1:02 SRM 1-3 sep
		T+1:03 SRM 7-9 sep
		T+1:57 SRM 4-6 off
		T+2:02 SRM 4-6 sep
		T+4:25 MECO
		T+4:31 VECO
		T+4:33 Stage 1 sep
	2259	Stage 2 TIG (T+4:38)
	2259	Fairing sep (T+4:50)
	2306	SECO-1 (T+11:37)	180 x 500? x 35.66?
		T+20:55 spinup
	2315	T+20:58 Delta sep
	2316	T+21:35 TES
	2318	T+23:02 TECO	355.32 171 x 20308 x 37.7
	2319	T+24:55 Stage 3 sep
	2319	T+24:57 despin weights
1990 Jan 25
	0010?	T+1:05:00? SES-2 depletion
	0011?	T+1:06:20? SECO-2 depletion	180? x 650? x 35.6
	0031?	T+1:36 SES-3? Stage 2 perigee	450 x 1308 x 35.6
			102.6 449 x 1308 x 35.6 (Delta)
1990 Jan 27	0716	Star 37XFP burn
1990 Jan 30			713.60 19974 x 20174 x 54.7
1990 Feb 5			717.96 20086 x 20277 x 54.6
1990 Feb 14		In service
1997 Feb 2		Operating at slot F3
2000 Jan 16			718.04 19989 x 20377 x 54.4