Alexis

 1993-026A

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Alexis, the Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors, was Space Test Program flight P89-1B. It was also known as ISES (Independent Space Experiment System). Alexis was developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) as part of its program to maintain capability to monitor nuclear explosions, and its main payload was six wide field X-ray telescopes to study the X-ray emission from the interstellar medium. A second LANL experiment, Blackbeard, was carried to study ionospheric propagation. A third experiment, the US Navy VSUME, was also carried, possibly on the Pegasus third stage.

Each of the six Alexis telescopes has a 0.128m diameter Cassegrain normal incidence multilayer spherical primary mirror with a focal length of 0.13m. The telescopes operate in the 100-200A band.

The 113 kg satellite was built by Aero Astro Inc. of Herndon, Virginia. The satellite was a 1.0m box with 4 panels.

Alexis was launched by Pegasus on 1993 Apr 25 over the Point Arguello Warning Area on the Western Test Range. During second stage burn, a solar panel was broken loose from its mounting by vibration. The satellite reached orbit but was unable to orient itself and fell silent. It was feared that the mission was a total loss, but over a month later a weak signal from the satellite was found. Repeated passes over the next few months allowed LANL scientists to regain full control of the spacecraft and orient it to get adequate solar power.

In 1999 because of low power, the Alexis telescopes were reduced to low voltage and run as a particle detector, during solar max when the background was high. In 2002, some of the telescopes were again being tested at high voltage.

Alexis
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1993 Apr 25	1244	NB-52 takeoff from Edwards AFB
	1356	Pegasus drop 13.3 km over PAWA
	1356	Pegasus ignition 5s after drop
	1357	Stage 1 sep T+90s
		Stage 2 sep
	1358	Fairing sep T+148s
	1402	Solar panel loose T+380s
	1405?	Stage 3 burn
	1406?	Stage 3 burnout
	1407?	Stage 3 sep	100.69 740 x 833 x 70
			100.69 749 x 844 x 70
1993 Jun 2		First telemetry contact
1993 Jun 30		Second comm pass
1993 Jul 5		Full comms regained
1993 Jul 11		Blackbeard ops begin
1993 Jul 30			100.69 747 x 835 x 69.93
2002 Mar		Still operating

Aviation Week: July 15,2002

 https://welib.org/md5/05bda9cd69e2e2ffc2087905ee53cb8c

Aviation Week: June 17,2002

 https://welib.org/md5/c47a0b2d43e2b4477242c3088803c148

USA-86

 1992-083A

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A satellite was launched from Vandenberg aboard a Titan 4 in 1992, into an orbit which is similar to that of the KH-11 satellites. It is believed that USA 86 replaced the eighth KH-11 in the east plane 1300 LTDN SSO. The satellite was deorbited in mid-2000.

USA 86
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1992 Nov 28	2134	Launch by Titan 4	V SLC4E
	2136?	T+2:00 St 1 MES
	2146?	T+2:04 SRM sep
	2137?	T+3:59 Fairing sep
	2149?	T+5:09 St 2 MES
	2139?	T+5:10 St 1 sep
	2142?	T+8:50 St 2 MECO
	2143?	T+8:59 Titan 4 stage 2 sep
			256 x 911 x 97.7 (UN)
1993 Aug 12	2345?		97.37 260 x 1005 x 97.83
1995 Aug 24			96.99 264 x 964 x 97.95
1996 Apr 16			99.01 409 x 1012 x 97.75
1997 Aug 1			98.97 402 x 1016 x 97.75
1999 Sep 2			98.75 402 x 995 x 97.69
2000 May 24			408 x 931 x 97.7
2000 Aug 15?		Deorbited

Spaceflight: May 2002

 https://welib.org/md5/9ca79bddec0a8cdb77ed2c55a2ba7ffc

The Race : the definitive story of America's battle to beat Russia to the moon

https://welib.org/md5/1a30f9eeaa467323f2657c1d8d9c92e3

Golden State, Golden Youth : The California Image in Popular Culture, 1955-1966

 https://welib.org/md5/5e397f27156cf0f10f976673f12bb8b1

Apollo 18

  1975-066A

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ASTP Crew

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• CDR Commander: Thomas P. Stafford, Brig-Gen USAF

• CMP Command Module Pilot: Vance Brand, NASA

• DMP Docking Module Pilot: Donald K. Slayton, NASA

Apollo CSM 111 was used for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

The ASTP Apollo was launched from Kennedy Space Center on 1975 Jul 15 at 1950 and inserted into a 155 x 173 km orbit. It separated from the Saturn at 2104, and completed the transposition and docking maneuver, which in this case involved docking to the ASTP Docking Module attached to the S-IVB rocket. At 2224 the combined CSM 111/DM-2 spaceship pulled away from the rocket stage.

Apollo spent the next two days maneuvering to approach the Soyuz-19 spaceship. By 1550 on 1975 Jul 17 the two were stationkeeping and at 1609 Apollo docked with the Soyuz. The special `androgynous' docking mechanism consisted of 3 petals on the end of the DM which locked with another 3 petals on the nose of Soyuz. At 1916 the final hatch between the two spaceships was opened and Tom Stafford and Aleksei Leonov shook hands. Stafford and Slayton transferred to the Soyuz in the first of a series of crew exhanges.

The crews were back in their own ships by 2100 on Jul 18. At 1203 on Jul 19, Apollo and Soyuz undocked. Apollo moved between Soyuz and the Sun, creating an artificial solar eclipse for Soyuz, which allowed the Soviet crew to photograph the solar corona. Apollo moved back in and docked with Soyuz at 1233. This time Soyuz extended its docking mechanism simulating the active role (although Slayton aboard Apollo actually performed the docking). At 1526 on Jul 19, Apollo undocked from Soyuz again and flew around the ship shining beams of light at reflectors mounted on Soyuz, and measuring the ultraviolet spectrum of the reflection. This experiment would provide information on the composition of the thin upper atmosphere present at the spaceship's 210 km altitude. At 1842 Apollo fired its RCS jets to move away from Soyuz.

At 1947 on Jul 23 Apollo undocked from the Docking Module, leaving it in a 211 x 219 km orbit. Two SPS burns put Apollo at a stable distance of 300 km from the DM. A VHF receiver on Apollo tracked the frequency of the DM's signal, and analysis of the Doppler shift as a function of time would allow high resolution gravity mapping of the Earth's potential.

The last Apollo mission came to an end on Jul 24 in the most dangerous reentry to date in a US space mission. The SPS engine fired to deorbit the CSM at 2037, and the SM separated at 2044. During reentry, Brand failed to throw two switches which would have jettisoned the parachute cover and turned off the thrusters. The parachute cover was jettisoned manually a little late, but the thrusters continued firing. Stafford switched them off, but residual nitrogen tetroxide propellant was sucked in through the air vents. Stafford deployed the main parachute early as the astronauts began to cough and become nauseous. The parachute deployed successfully and splashdown was at 2118. The crew at once put on emergency oxygen masks - Brand had lost consciousness during the descent. CM-111 was winched aboard the USS New Orleans. It was not until the crew were on the carrier deck that Mission Control became aware that the emergency had occurred.

Apollo CSM 111 Mission Log
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1975 Jul 15	1950:01	Launch from KSC LC39B
1975 Jul 15	1952:16	S-IB inboard engine cutoff
1975 Jul 15	1952:22	S-IB outboard engine cutoff
1975 Jul 15	1952:22	S-IB separation
1975 Jul 15	1952:23	S-IVB ignition
	1952:34	Ullage rockets sep
	1952:53	LES sep
1975 Jul 15	1959:46	S-IVB main engine cutoff (MECO)
1975 Jul 15	1959:56	Earth orbit insertion	155 x 173 km
1975 Jul 15	2104:01	Separated from S-IVB	87.68 152 x 166 x 51.8
1975 Jul 15	2128	Docked with DM-2
1975 Jul 15	2224	Separated from S-IVB, with DM-2 attached
1975 Jul 15	2224:01	AEM (RCS Apollo Extract Maneuver)	150 x 168 km
1975 Jul 15	2331	ACM (SPS Apollo Circ Maneuver)	167 x 167 km
1975 Jul 16	0128:30	NC-1 (SPS burn)	169 x 233 km
1975 Jul 16	0420	Apollo probe removed	88.51 164 x 236 x 51.7
1975 Jul 16	1546	DM-2 hatch open, crew entry
1975 Jul 16	2018:00	PCM (RCS phasing correction)	168 x 226 km
1975 Jul 17	0833		88.37 162 x 224 x 51.8
1975 Jul 17	1251	NC-2 (SPS orbit lower)	166 x 197 km
1975 Jul 17	1334	NCC (SPS corrective combination)	190 x 203 km
1975 Jul 17	1412:05	NSR (SPS coelliptic sequence)	205 x 205 km
1975 Jul 17	1516:42	TPI (Terminal Phase Initiation)	205 x 224 km x 51.8 deg
1975 Jul 17	1530	TPM1 (RCS rendezvous burn)
1975 Jul 17	1540	TPM2
1975 Jul 17	1550	Stationkeeping with Soyuz-19
1975 Jul 17	1609:09	Docked with Soyuz-19. Hard dock at 1609:30	88.96 218 x 227 x 51.8
1975 Jul 17	1916	Hatch 3 open for crew transfer. CDR, DMP to Soyuz (CMP on Apollo)
1975 Jul 17	2247	CDR, DMP from Soyuz to Apollo (CDR, CMP, DMP on Apollo)
1975 Jul 18	1000	CDR, CMP from Apollo to Soyuz (DMP on Apollo)
1975 Jul 18	1030	CDR, KDR from Soyuz to Apollo (CDR, DMP, KDR on Apollo)
1975 Jul 18	1700?	CDR, KDR to Soyuz, CMP and BI to Apollo (DMP, CMP, BI on Apollo)
1975 Jul 18	2100	CDR to Apollo, BI to Soyuz (CDR, CMP, DMP in Apollo)
1975 Jul 19	1203:20	CSM 111 undocked from Soyuz-19,	219 x 220 km x 51.8
1975 Jul 19		Solar occultation experiment
1975 Jul 19	1233:39	CSM soft dock with Soyuz-19 (hard dock 1240)
1975 Jul 19	1526:12	CSM undocked from Soyuz-19
1975 Jul 19	1600	Fly around Soyuz-19
1975 Jul 19	1725	Burn for UV absorption expt
1975 Jul 19	1842:47	SEP (RCS burn)
1975 Jul 20	0906		88.91 216 x 225 x 51.8
1975 Jul 21	1458	ATM (RCS Apollo Trim)	211 x 219 km
1975 Jul 23	0042		88.76 203 x 222 x 51.8
1975 Jul 23	1658		88.76 200 x 225 x 51.8
1975 Jul 23	1947:00	Undocking from DM-2.
1975 Jul 23	2022	DM-1 (SPS burn)	218 x 227 km
1975 Jul 24	0033:42	DM-2 (SPS burn)	207 x 220 km
1975 Jul 24	0150		88.72 200 x 221 x 51.8
1975 Jul 24	2037:47	ADM (SPS Apollo Deorbit), 6.6 s burn 57.9m/s
	2037:54	ADM cutoff 202 km	86.78 27 x 201 x 51.77
1975 Jul 24	2044:09	SM-111 separation 193 km
1975 Jul 24	2059:00	Entry interface 121 km
1975 Jul 24	2118:24	Splashdown at 22 00 36N, 163 00 54W, 500 km west of Oahu
1975 Jul 24	2159	Recovered by USS New Orleans