The space shuttle Atlantis successfully docked with the Russian space station Mir for the seventh time in less than two and a half years September 27, in a mission mired in controversy regarding the safety of the aging space station.
     Atlantis docked with Mir just before 4pm EDT (2000 UT) September 27. There were no problems reported with the docking, despite concerns over Mir's balky computer system. The hatches between the two spacecraft opened two hours later, letting the two crews meet one another.
     The highlight of the docking mission, designated STS-86, was the exchange of Mir crew members, as David Wolf took Michael Foale's place on Mir after a tumultuous four-month stay on Mir for Foale. Foale will return to Earth on Atlantis.
     The exchange was in doubt until a little more than twelve hours before the September 25 launch of Atlantis, when NASA Administrator Dan Goldin cleared the launch despite concerns raised by members of Congress and some space analysts about the safety of the Mir. [See following article for more coverage of this.]
     In addition to Wolf, the shuttle brought about 2250 kg (5,000 lbs.) of food, water, and equipment to Mir. Included in the supplies is a new computer to replace the one on Mir that has failed several times since July.
     On Wednesday shuttle astronauts Vladimir Titov and Scott Parazynski will conduct a five-hour spacewalk outside Mir. They will retrieve an experiment package mounted to Mir 18 months ago to measure the cosmic radiation environment around the station.
     Titov and Parazynski will also attach equipment outside Mir to be used in future repairs of the space station. Included is a "solar cap" that would be used to seal off the base of the damaged solar panel on the Spektr module, should it be removed in future repairs.
     The seven-person shuttle crew, commanded by James Weatherbee, has an experienced international crew. Besides Titov, a Russian cosmonaut who was the first to spend a consecutive year in space, the Atlantis crew includes French astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien. Chretien was the first Frenchman in space and has stayed on Mir and its predecessor, Salyut 7.
     The shuttle crew also includes two Americans who were "rejects" from the Shuttle-Mir program. Parazynski was removed from planning for Mir missions in 1995 when Russian officials announced the 190-cm (6'3") astronaut was too tall to safely fit in the Soyuz spacecraft that would be used for any emergency evacuation of Mir.
     Wendy Lawrence was removed from the Mir program at the same time because the 160-cm (5'3") astronaut was deemed too short. She was later restored to the program and had been scheduled to replace Foale on Mir, but was bumped in favor of Wolf because she is too short to fit in the Russian Orlan EVA suit. NASA wanted an astronaut on Mir who could assist in any EVAs to repair the station.
     Atlantis is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, October 5, at approximately 7pm EDT (2300 UT).

NASA Administrator Dan Goldin gave the go-ahead to continue an American presence on the Russian space station Mir September 25, despite Congressional calls to end the program because of the poor safety record of the station.
     "Only after carefully reviewing the facts... and measuring the weighty responsibility NASA bears for its astronauts, do I approve the next phase of the Shuttle-Mir program," Goldin said at a press conference a little more than 12 hours before the launch of the shuttle Atlantis on a Mir docking mission.
     "We move forward not only because it is safe, but for the important scientific and human experience we can gain only from Mir," Goldin said. "As we prepare for the June 1998 launch of the first element of the International Space Station, nothing can beat the hands-on, real-time training aboard Mir."
     Goldin based his decision on the conclusions of several reports which he reviewed the day before he announced his decision. The reports included independent analyses by former Gemini and Apollo astronaut Thomas Stafford and former aerospace executive A. Thomas Young, as well as two NASA internal studies.
     The decision came one week after the House Science Committee held a hearing to discuss the safety of the space station, which has suffered from a series of problems this year ranging from problems with oxygen generators to a flash fire and a collision in June with a Progress resupply spacecraft.
     The hearings included testimony by NASA Inspector General Roberta Gross, who testified about an interim report released earlier in September which appeared to show that the station was in much worse condition than either American or Russian officials had revealed.
     Gross's report mentioned problems with carbon dioxide levels noticed last year during Shannon Lucid's six-month stay on Mir, training deficiencies which left at least one astronaut feeling unqualified to fly the Soyuz spacecraft in an emergency, and miscellaneous other problems with the station.
     Although Gross's report was attacked by at least one member of the Science Committee, the report was well received by most of the committee, including chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI).
     Sensenbrenner expressed his disappointment in Goldin's decision, and said NASA was "acting negligently" be sending Wolf to Mir. "He [Wolf] is not only being put at unnecessary risk, but the benefits of Mr. Wolf's mission as a result of what has happened on Mir are so reduced that in my opinion the risks outweigh the benefits," he told CNN.
     "I still do not believe there are sufficient benefits to weigh even the smallest risks aboard Mir, and I am disappointed with his [Goldin's] decision to replace astronaut Michael Foale with David Wolf at the end of STS-86," said Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL), a member of the Science Committee.
     Goldin acknowledged in his press conference that many thought the joint program should end. "We are deeply touched by the outpouring of emotion," Goldin noted, but that the decision to continue the program "should not be based on emotion or politics."

Less than a week after entering orbit, the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft made its first major discovery by detecting a weak magnetic field around the Red Planet.
     The spacecraft detected the weak field, only about 1/800th the strength of the Earth's magnetic field, four days after arriving at Mars September 11. The announcement of the discovery was made two days later.
     "This was the first opportunity in the mission to collect close-in magnetic field data," explained Dr. Mario Acuna, principal investigator of the magnetometer on the spacecraft, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "Much more additional data will be collected in upcoming orbits during the aerobraking phase of the mission to further characterize the strength and geometry of the field."
     Attempts to measure a native Martian magnetic field had previously been made by a series of Soviet missions, but were inconclusive, Acuna said.
     The existence of the magnetic field, which may be the relic of a older, stronger field, also suggests Mars may have been more hospitable to life earlier in its history. Magnetic fields are created by the movement of molten metal, an excellent electrical conductor, in the core of a planet. This motion generates electrical currents which, in turn, generate electricity.
     The discovery of a magnetic field around Mars implies the planet has a stronger heat source in its core which could have made the planet more active geologically. That in turn would support processes to generate and keep an atmosphere around the early Mars
     "If Mars had a more active dynamo in its past, as we suspect from the existence of ancient volcanoes there, then it may have had a thicker atmosphere and liquid water on its surface," Acuna said.
     The discovery also earned praise from Vice President Al Gore. "This is another example of how NASA's commitment to faster, better, cheaper Mars exploration that began with Mars Pathfinder is going to help answer many fundamental questions about the history and environment of our neighboring planet, and the lessons it may hold for a better understanding of life on Earth," he said.
     The spacecraft is currently using aerobraking, or short passes though the uppermost regions of the Martian atmosphere, to place the spacecraft into a circular orbit. Full science operations are slated to begin after the orbital maneuvers are complete in early 1998.

NASA's Lewis spacecraft, designed to be a cornerstone of the agency's philosophy of faster, cheaper, better missions, burned up over the South Atlantic September 28 when ground controllers could not reestablish contact with the spacecraft.
     The U.S. Space Command reported that the spacecraft reentered the Earth's atmosphere at 7:58am EDT (1158 UT) September 28 while flying over the South Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Antarctica. The small spacecraft was believed to have completely burnt up in the atmosphere, with little or no debris reaching the ocean.
     Contact with Lewis was lost August 26, less than four days after its successful launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Engineers believe a thruster stuck in the on position, spinning the spacecraft up to 2 revolutions per minute.
     The spin meant the spacecraft's solar panels were unable to lock onto the Sun, and the batteries on Lewis were quickly drained as a result. Mission controllers hoped the panels would eventually see enough of the Sun to generate some power and communicate with the ground, but contact with Lewis was never restored.
     "The potential loss of this mission is an obvious disappointment," Samuel Venneri, NASA Chief Technologist, said a few days before Lewis reenetered. "However, the process of designing and building the spacecraft taught us a great deal about how to integrate cutting-edge technology into small missions and how to prepare the associated science teams, and we will apply those lessons to future projects."
     TRW, builders of the spacecraft, is investigating the cause of the accident. An independent board of inquiry has been established and should report on the cause of the spacecraft failure in 60 days.
     The $71 million Lewis spacecraft was designed to provide high-quality images of the Earth over a wide range of the spectrum for applications related to environmental monitoring. Other missions, such as a high-technology New Millennium mission scheduled for launch next June, should generate some of the data the Lewis mission was to provide.

After nearly three months on the surface, the Mars Pathfinder lander and Sojourner rover continue to return data on the Martian environment as the rover's activities enter a new phase.
     Sojourner completed last week a detailed study of a large collection of rocks dubbed the "Rock Garden" when it finished an analysis of a rock named Chimp. The rover is now scheduled to take a 50-meter (164-foot) clockwise turn around the lander, performing technology experiments.
     "The lander and rover performance continues to be nothing short of extraordinary," said Pathfinder project manager Brian Muirhead. "We have proven that we know how to design robust robots to operate in the hostile environment of Mars."
     The Pathfinder lander, also known as the Sagan Memorial Station, continues to send back high-resolution color images. The images will make up the "super pan", a 360-degree panoramic view of the landing site using images taken with 12 different filters.
     Muirhead said the super pan, which contains 1 gigabit of imaging data, is 80 percent complete. The remaining images should be returned by the end of October.
     Both the rover and lander continue to perform well, although the batteries in both spacecraft have worn down. The batteries in the rover have been completely depleted, keeping it from using its spectrometer overnight. The lander's batteries have been discharged to 30 percent of their maximum, limiting nighttime scientific activities.
     Both vehicles have solar panels, however, and can operate normally during the day. "If everything else continues to operate properly, we could continue conducting surface experiments for months," said mission manager Richard Cook.

Rockets from the United States, Europe, Russia, and India launched payloads into orbit ranging from Iridium satellites to remote sensing spacecraft in the latter half of September, while a Chinese launch in August may not have been as successful as once thought.
     The French company Arianespace celebrated the 100th launch of its Ariane booster September 23 with the launch of an Ariane 4 from Kourou, French Guiana. The booster launched the Intelsat-803 communications satellite at 7:58pm EDT (2358 UT) into geosynchronous orbit. The satellite will transmit voice and video signals across the Atlantic Ocean during its 15-year lifetime.
     A Boeing Delta II launched five Iridium satellites into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base September 26. The launch took place at 9:23pm EDT (0123 UT Sept. 27) and all five satellites were successfully placed in orbit. Half of the Iridium constellation is now in orbit, with the launch of 34 satellites of the 66-satellite system.
     India launched a remote sensing satellite early Monday, September 29, on a domestic rocket. The IRS-1D satellite was launched on India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Sriharikota launch site in southern India. The launch was the first operational payload launched by the PSLV, which had previously launched experimental vehicles. The satellite will be used by the Indian government and commercial firms to obtain information on the nation's environment. Late reports indicate, however, the satellite may be in an incorrect orbit.
     A Russian Kosmos launch placed an American satellite into orbit form Plesetsk in northern Russia on September 23. The booster carried Faisat-2V satellite for Final Analysis, a Maryland firm which plans to place a dozen such satellites into orbit to provide a messaging service. The satellite was launched with a larger Russian navigation satellite. A Molniya launch from Plesetsk two days launched placed a Russian communications satellite into orbit.
     A Long March 3B launch in August may have placed a Philippine communications satellite into the wrong orbit, according to some reports. Agence France Presse reports that the launched paced the satellite into an orbit some 4,000 km (2,500 mi.) too low, requiring extra thruster burns from the satellite to move into the appropriate orbit. The extra burns reduced the fuel on the spacecraft and thus lowered its expected lifetime.
     The next Long March 3B launch, of a Hong Kong Apstar communications satellite, has been delayed until mid-October while problems with the launch vehicle are assessed.

The first launch of Europe's heavy-lift Ariane 5 launch vehicle since its disastrous maiden flight last year will take place in mid-October after a series of delays, the European Space Agency reported September 24.
     The launch of Ariane 502 will take place no earlier than October 15, European officials reported. Preparations for the launch were put on hold September 26 and will resume a week before the launch. A firm launch date will be announced early this month.
     ESA has hoped to launch the Ariane 5 in September, but delays verifying the quality of the flight software to be used for a delay of at least two weeks.
     The delay was ordered when tests showed an undesired oscillation in the main Vulcain engine that could deplete hydraulic fluid used to steer the engine nozzle. ESA said additional modifications might be necessary for the engine, delaying the launch an additional one to two weeks.
     The planned launch is the first since the June 4, 1996 explosion of Ariane 501 less than 40 seconds after launch. The explosion was traced to a bug in the guidance software, which caused the rocket to veer off course, requiring range safety officers to destroy it.

NASA released its final version of an environmental impact statement for the X-33 prototype reusable launch vehicle September 26, designating a California launch site and landing sites in three places in the western U.S.
     The report named Haystack Butte, on the grounds of Edwards Air Force Base, California, as the launch site for the X-33 test flights. Three landing sites were selected: Silurian Lake, near Baker, California, for short-range flights; Michael Army Air Field, Utah, for mid-range flights; and Malmstrom Air Force Base near Great Falls, Montana, for long-range flights.
     The decision came after a year of study, including public hearings at locations near proposed launch and landing sites. "The study determined that the overall predicted environmental impacts of X-33 were minimal at all sites considered," said Dr. Rebecca McCaleb of Marshall Space Flight Center, which is managing the X-33 project.
     Lockheed Martin is building the X-33, a scaled-down version of the proposed VentureStar reusable launch vehicle. Test flights of the X-33, which will not go into orbit but will fly at speeds of Mach 12 or greater, are scheduled to begin in mid-1999.

A new NASA-supported survey of the night sky at infrared wavelengths which promises to reveal new insights into the nature of stars and galaxies has started at two ground-based telescopes thousands of kilometers apart.
     The Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS), operated by the University of Massachusetts and largely funded by NASA, is using telescopes in Arizona and Chile to map the night sky at a wavelength of two microns, considerably beyond the range of human eyesight.
     The survey plans to observe 1 million galaxies and 300 million stars, as well as quasars, asteroids, and comets. Of particular interest are brown dwarfs, failed stars too dim to radiate visible light but bright enough to be seen with the sensitive infrared cameras used by 2MASS.
     Data collected by the two telescopes, which can amount to up to 60 gigabytes of data, are processed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech.
     "The sky survey catalogues produced 100 years ago are still useful to astronomers," said Project Manager Rae Stiening. "We expect this new, greatly updated survey will be an invaluable resource for the next 100 years."

Beam Me Up: A joint NASA-Air Force research project succeeded September 23 in launching a tiny rocket, no more than 10 cm (4 in.) in diameter to a height of just over 2 meters (7 feet.) Why was this puny launch a success? The rocket was powered solely by a ground-based laser. A 10-kilowatt carbon dioxide laser was focused on the tail of the rocket. A reflector in the tail concentrated the last light, heating air which then was forced out of a nozzle, generating thrust. The test launch at White Sands, New Mexico is part of NASA's Advanced Space Transportation Program. A planned follow-up rocket will include a more sophisticated guidance system.

Round Trip: A piece of Mars which fell to Earth 35 years ago has made a return trip. A small piece of the Zagami meteorite, which fell to Earth in Nigeria in 1962 and was later found to be from Mars, is mounted on a plaque attached to one of the instruments on Mars Global Surveyor, which went into orbit around Mars last month. The meteorite sample, no larger than a sand grain, was placed there by Arizona State University geologist Philip Christensen, who had purchased a piece of the Zagami meteorite to calibrate the instrument. "This sand grain is a symbol of the achievements of all the scientists and engineers who have worked to develop the understanding, insight, and technical capability to make this first ever interplanetary 'sample return mission' a reality," he said.

Congressman Linenger? UPI reported last month that officials with the Republican Party of the state of Michigan are trying to recruit Mir astronaut Jerry Linenger to run for Congress in 1998. Linenger, a Michigan native who is retiring from the astronaut corps and the Navy, would likely run against Rep. David Bonoir, the House minority whip, in his suburban Detroit district. Now, if Linenger were only from Houston and could run against Rep. Shirley "Did Pathfinder see the flag placed there by Neil Armstrong" Jackson Lee (see last issue)...

In Brief: African nations are considering spending more than $1 billion to develop their own communications satellite. The satellite, to be launched in 2000 or 2001, would provide reliable telephone service for a continent that largely lacks a modern telecommunications infrastructure... NASA has selected a team of ten planetary scientists to serve as the science team for Deep Space 1, the first New Millennium mission. The advanced technology spacecraft will make flybys of the asteroid McAuliffe and the comet P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura in 1999 and 2000, respectively... Salon magazine has the ideal solution for the problems on Mir. In an article posted on the Webzine's site September 18, writer David Futrelle suggested pairing Mir with MTV's "The Real World" program, the show the follows a set of hip twentysomethings as they "stop being polite and start being real." Check it out at http://www.salonmagazine.com/sept97/media/media2970918.html and see how to get rid of an aging space station and a tired TV program...