The Russian space station Mir with Mir-21 crew, Yuri Ivanovich
Onufrienko, Yuri Vladimirovich Usachyov and Shannon Lucid (call signs
Skif-1 Skif-2 and Skif-3) will be appearing in the mid west US evening
skies in June and return to the morning skies July 19th. through early
August.
Amateur radio operators can log into the Mir 'Packet' (R0MIR-1) BBS
on 145.550MHz simplex And soon on 435.775MHz uplink / 437.975 downlink MHZ.
The cosmonauts also use the freq. 145.200 MHZ, up and 145.800 MHZ down or
435.725 MHZ Up /437.925 MHZ down or 145.550 MHZ simplex to talk or send
SSTV video with amateur radio operators on the ground during their
off-hours.
Look for MIRWATCH and other great space stuff on my web page at
http://www.skypoint.com/~benhuset/
Joseph Stalin must be spinning in his grave like the pulsar inside
the Crab Nebula. Yuri and Yuri filmed a Pepsi commercial on the space
station Mir. Hey, the Russian space program needs the cash.
The two Yuris - Onufrienko and Usachev - assembled a four-foot-tall
aluminum and nylon replica of Pepsi's new blue can and unfurled a banner
that said, "Even in space . . . Pepsi is changing the script." Video of the
can and banner were shot both inside and outside Mir station.
The soft drink company is rumored to have forked over more than $1
million for the plug, which will be used in a television commercial next
year. But considering that Pepsi spends $300 million a year on advertizing
it's a drop in the bucket.
Too bad NO Pepsi drink actually made it to Mir for them to drink.
But lots of Pepsi executives' business cards did which were autographed and
notarized by the cosmonauts. For real soda pop on orbit you have to go to
the space shuttle which was flying a Coke pop dispenser experiment at the
same time.
"There is no doubt that this year we have conquered 'The last
frontier' for advertising," said Michael Lawson, chief executive officer of
Space Marketing Inc., the company responsible for Pepsi's launch into the
world of commercial space.
This isn't the first time a new logo has premiered on Mir. Earlier
the new Houston Rockets Basketball team logo appeared aboard Mir. Too bad
the New Minnesota Timber wolves basketball team logo didn't do this too.
Extended Flight: Yuri and Yuri get a few extra weeks on orbit and
Shannon will now only be a member of three crews as the replacement crew
Mir-22 won't arrive now till AFTER STS-79 takes her home.
Some concern was raised when HALF the batteries aboard Prioda lost
power soon after launch and the module had NO solar cells arrays to provide
electricity in case the other half failed. If the module was unable to
dock on the first few tries the remaining batteries would be spent leaving
the module dead in space. Fortunately it docked the first time.
The Mir-21 crew have broken the drab jumpsuit barrier. Shannon has
been appearing recently in bright wine colored jump suits. Yuri and Yuri
are now in a new tan jumpsuits. Shannon was to have appeared on the
premiere episode of the Rosie O'Donnell show but it was canceled at the
last moment. If anybody knows why please tell me.
Weekly NASA status reports about MIR-21 are now just a click away
on the Internet at :
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/statrpt/jsc/mir21/.
Here are some clips from the past few reports:
The Priroda science module made a flawless automated docking with
the Mir space station to complete Mir's final configuration.
Used primarily to study the Earth for ecological and environmental
purposes, the Priroda is carrying additional science equipment for
microgravity research. The addition of the Priroda module completes the
Mir Space Station once it is pivoted into place through the use of a small
robotic arm on the module.
In readying the Priroda module for science activities, U.S.
astronaut Shannon Lucid, Mir 21 Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Flight
Engineer Yuri Usachev first removed 168 automobile battery sized batteries.
These batteries were used to provide Priroda with electricity while en
route to Mir. The batteries were wrapped in plastic bags and will be left
in Priroda until the unmanned Progress resupply vehicle arrives. The
batteries then will be placed in the Progress and disposed of when it is
released from Mir to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
The crew also spent the week conducting science experiments, Earth
observations and continued their search for a small leak in one of the
station's thermal cooling loops.
As part of her Earth observations work, Mir crew member Shannon
Lucid took photographs of the fires burning out of control in Mongolia.
Lucid, a veteran of four previous space flights, reported that she had
never before seen such large fires from space.
Shuttle and Mir
Launch of mission STS-78 is scheduled for Jun 20. A Spacelab Long
Module is in Columbia's cargo bay together with the EDO (Extended Duration
Orbiter) pallet with extra consumables to support the long 16-day mission.
Crew of STS-78 are Col. Terence `Tom' Henricks, Kevin Kregel, Capt. Susan
Helms, Dr. Charles Brady, M.D., Dr. Richard Linnehan, D.Vet.M, Dr. Bob
Thirsk, M.D., and Dr. Jean-Jacques Favier, Ph.D. Thirsk is from the
Canadian Space Agency and Favier is from the French CNES space agency. The
crew will carry out the Life and Microgravity Science Spacelab (LMS) mission.
The Mir EO-21 crew's 5th EVA took place at 1656 UTC on Jun 6 and
lasted 3 hr 34 min. Onufrienko and Usachyov installed experiments to study
the space environment on the outer surface of the station. EVA-6 took place
on Jun 13, and involved the filming of the second part of a commercial for
Pepsi-Cola. It lasted 5 hr 42 min.
Errata
I got the launch time of Galaxy 9 wrong - it should have been 0110
UTC on May 24.
I missed two types of rocket from my launch vehicle list last week:
first, the Conestoga, which uses the Castor 4B as its core. As far as I
know, the Castor 4 series first flew on an Athena H reentry test vehicle in
1971. The second one I missed was the NOTSnik Project Pilot air launched
vehicle, recently declassified, which was used in 1958 and used a small
HOTROC solid motor cluster as its first stage. Two of the 1958 Pilot
launches may have reached orbit.
HOTROC Pilot 1958 Jul 4 F 1958 Jul 25 S?
Castor 4B Conestoga 1971 Apr 3 1995 Oct 23 F
The LLV-1 (now LMLV-1) was deliberately omitted since it used the
Castor 120 core, which is part of the same rocket family as the TU-904 used
for Taurus, although a different variant.
Recent Launches
Ariane flight V87 was successfully launched on Jun 15. A member of
the original Ariane family, the Ariane 44P model rocket placed its H-10-III
third stage and the Intelsat 709 comsat in geostationary transfer orbit.
The success is good news for Arianespace after the failure of the first
Ariane 5 launch.
Intelsat 709 is an Intelsat VIIA satellite using the Space
Systems/Loral FS-1300 bus. The satellite has a mass of 1473 kg dry, or 3420
kg including all its propellant. It has 26 C-band and 10 Ku-band
transponders and will be stationed at 18 deg W over the Atlantic to provide
transatlantic telephone, TV and data relay for the International
Telecommunications Satellite Organization.
Here are more details of the Ariane 5 flight from ESA:
1233:59 UTC: Vulcain main engine ignition
1234:06 UTC: EAP ignition, liftoff
1234:36 UTC: Altitude 3.5 km
1234:36 UTC: EAP solid booster nozzles swivel to limit
Vulcain main engine swivels to limit
Ariane 5 tilts sharply
1234:38 UTC: EPC structural failure
1234:38 UTC: Onboard destruct system fired
ESA says: "The direction of inquiry is tending towards the
launcher's electrical and software system". The on board computer
incorrectly decided that the vehicle was off course and commanded a sharp
turn, which then did in fact send Ariane off course. An automatic on board
destruct system fired once the vehicle started to disintegrate.
The Clipper Graham (DC-XA) made its second flight at 1615 UTC on
Jun 7. The 62-second flight was successful. A third flight one day later
was also successful and proved the rapid turnaround concept.
Gorizont No. 44L, launched on May 25, is now on station at 53
degrees East.
Table of Recent Launches
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Apr 3 2301 Inmarsat III F1 Atlas IIA Canaveral LC36A Comsat 20A
Apr 8 2309 Astra 1F Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur LC81 Comsat 21A
Apr 20 2236 M-SAT 1 Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 22A
Apr 23 1148 Priroda Proton-K Baykonur LC81 Spaceship 23A
Apr 24 1227 MSX Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Mil.tech. 24A
Apr 24 1303 Kosmos-2332 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk Radar cal 25A
Apr 24 2337 USA-118 Titan 401 Canaveral LC41 Sigint 26A
Apr 30 0431 BeppoSAX Atlas I Canaveral LC36B Astronomy 27A
May 5 0704 Progress M-31 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 28A
May 12 2132 USA-119 Titan 403? Vandenberg SLC4E Recon? 29A
USA-120? 29B?
USA-121? 29C?
USA-122 29D
May 14 0855 Kometa Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Recon FTO
May 16 0156 Palapa C2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 30A
AMOS ) Comsat 30B
May 17 0244 MSTI-3 Pegasus L-1011,Pacific Technology 31A
May 19 1030 Endeavour Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 32A
May 20 1129 Spartan 207 Technology 32B
IAE Technology 32C
May 22 0918 PAMS STU Technology 32D
May 24 0110 Galaxy 9 Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17B Comsat 33A
May 25 0210? Gorizont Proton-K/DM2 Baykonur Comsat 34A
Jun 4 1234 Cluster F1 ) Ariane 5 Kourou ELA3 Science FTO
Cluster F2 )
Cluster F3 )
Cluster F4 )
Jun 15 0655 Intelsat 709 Ariane 44P Kourou ELA2 Comsat
Payloads no longer in orbit
May 13 Kosmos-2293 Reentered
May 22 IAE Reentered
May 29 Endeavour/Spartan Landed at KSC
Current Shuttle Processing Status
Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due
OV-102 Columbia LC39B STS-78 Jun 20
OV-103 Discovery Palmdale OMDP
OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 1 STS-79 Jul 31
OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 3 STS-77
ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks
ML1/
ML2/RSRM-54 VAB Bay 1 STS-79
ML3/RSRM-55/ET-79/OV102 LC39B STS-78
* indicates changes from last month's calendar
To see the full calendar, check out http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/
July 1996
* Jul 01 - TOMS Pegasus XL Launch
* Jul 01 - US Air Force Titan 4 Launch
* Jul 01 - 20th Birthday (1976), Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum
* Jul 02 - Apstar-1A Long March Launch
Jul 02 - Comet Kopff Perihelion (1.5796 AU)
Jul 04 - Jupiter at Opposition
Jul 04 - Comet Hale-Bopp at Opposition
* Jul 05 - GPS-10 Delta Launch
Jul 05 - Earth at Aphelion (1.017 AU from Sun)
* Jul 07 - Space Shuttle Columbia Returns to Earth
Jul 08 - Comet Kopff, Closest Approach to Earth (0.5651 AU)
* Jul 09 - Asteroid 253 Mathilde Occults GSC 49960272
Jul 09 - GPS-26 Delta Launch
* Jul 09 - Arabsat-2A/Turksat-1C Ariane 4 Launch
Jul 11 - Comet Kopff at Opposition
Jul 12 - Moon Occults Venus
* Jul 15 - Clipper-Graham Test Flight #5
Jul 16 - Comet Spacewatch Perihelion (1.54 AU)
Jul 16 - Asteroid Victoria at Opposition
Jul 17 - Venus at Greatest Brilliancy (Magnititude -4.5)
Jul 18 - Neptune at Opposition
* Jul 18 - Asteroid 341 California Occults 8.8 Magnitude Star
Jul 18 - 30th Anniversary (1966), Gemini 10 Launch
Jul 20 - 20th Anniversary (1976), Viking 1 Mars Landing
Jul 21 - 35th Anniversary (1961), Mercury 4 Launch
* Jul 22 - Progress M-32 Launch (Russia)
Jul 24 - Comet Gunn Perihelion (2.462 AU)
* Jul 25 - EHF-7 Atlas 2 Launch
* Jul 25 - Minuteman III ICBM Launch
Jul 25 - Uranus at Opposition
Jul 26 - 25th Anniversary (1971), Apollo 15 Launch
Jul 27 - Comet 1996 E1 (NEAT) Perihelion (1.31 AU)
* Jul 28 - Asteroid 203 Pompeja Occults 7.5 Magnitude Star
Jul 29 - South Delta-Aquarids Meteor Shower
* Jul 29 - Moon Occults 4.0 Magnitude Star
* Jul 31 - STS-79, Atlantis, Mir Docking
* Jul 31 - Comet Brorsen, Near-Jupiter Flyby (0.4785 AU)
August 1996
* Aug ?? - Telecom-2D/Insat-2D Ariane 4 Launch
Aug 02 - Asteroid Toro Near-Earth Flyby (0.2208 AU)
* Aug 05 - Galileo, Orbital Trim Maneuver #8 (OTM-8)
Aug 06 - 35th Anniversary (1961), Vostok 2 Launch
Aug 06 - Asteroid 3103 Eger Near-Earth Flyby (0.1158 AU)
Aug 08 - Asteroid Nausikaa at Opposition
Aug 09 - 20th Anniversary (1976), Luna 24 Launch (Soviet Moon Sample Return)
Aug 10 - 30th Anniversary (1966), Lunar Orbiter 1 Launch
Aug 12 - Perseids Meteor Shower (Potential Meteor Storm)
Aug 14 - Soyuz TM-24 Launch (Russia)
Aug 15 - FAST Pegasus XL Launch
* Aug 16 - Moon Occults Mercury
Aug 17 - ADEOS/NSCAT Launch
Aug 17 - Asteroid Lutetia at Opposition
Aug 17 - Asteroid Dembowska at Opposition
Aug 17 - 30th Anniversary (1966), Pioneer 7 Launch (Solar Orbiter)
* Aug 18 - Comet 1996 A1 Jedicke Perihelion (4.06 AU)
Aug 19 - Asteroid Urania at Opposition
Aug 19 - Venus Reaches Greatest Elongation (46 Degrees)
* Aug 20 - GE-1 Atlas IIA Launch
Aug 20 - Comet Shoemaker-Holt 2 Perihelion (2.663 AU)
Aug 20 - Asteroid Laetitia at Opposition
Aug 21 - Mercury At Its Greatest Elongation (27 Degrees)
* Aug 24 - Johnson Space Center Open House, Houston Texas
Aug 24 - 30th Anniversary (1966), Luna 11 Launch (Soviet Lunar Orbiter)
Aug 25 - 15th Anniversary (1981), Voyager 2 Saturn Flyby
* Aug 27 - Galileo, Orbital Trim Maneuver #9 (OTM-9)
Aug 28 - Asteroid 1991 CS Near-Earth Flyby (0.0508 AU)
Aug 28 - GPS II R-1 Delta Launch
* Aug 29 - Interball-2 Launch (Russia)
Aug 31 - Comet Wild 4 Perihelion (1.989 AU)
