The Expedition Four crew is completing its fifth week in space aboard the International Space Station, continuing preparations for the first spacewalk of the five-month mission. The six-hour spacewalk by Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Carl Walz is scheduled to begin at 2:56 p.m. CST, Monday, Jan. 14. This week, with the assistance of their crewmate, Flight Engineer Dan Bursch, the two spacewalkers outfitted and tested their Russian Orlan spacesuits and prepared the tools and equipment they will use on Monday. Additional Details: here....

The spacewalk was made from the Pirs module. Depress was around 2050 UTC, with hatch open at 2059 UTC and egress around 2110 UTC. The astronauts moved the Strela-2 crane from PMA-1 to Pirs and installed it there; the Strela-1 crane was already functional on Pirs. They also installed an amateur radio antenna on Zvezda. On Jan 15 at about 0254 UTC the crew jettisoned two pairs of Orlan spacesuit gloves and a pair of towels used to wipe the spaceuits down, because of concerns about contamination from Zvezda thrusters. They reentered Pirs at 0255 UTC, with hatch close at 0302 UTC and repressurization above 50 mbar at about 0304 UTC.

Military Communications satellite. Launch delayed from December 2001. The Titan core stage shut down 9 min after launch on a suborbital trajectory, and separated from the upper stage, Centaur TC-19. TC-19 made three burns to parking orbit, geostationary transfer orbit, and finally geostationary orbit. It then released Milstar Flt-5. Milstar provided secure communications in the EHF, SHF and UHF bands and would be stationed over European longitudes. As of 2007 Feb 16 located at 29.98E drifting at 0.014W degrees per day.

Communications satellite. Launch delayed from January 16. The Ariane placed Insat 3C into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The Indian communications satellite had a mass of 1050 kg empty, 2750 kg fuelled. It carried 30 C-band and two S-band transponders. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 73.96E drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.

The astronauts installed plume deflectors around the Zvezda thrusters and set up some exposure experiments. The Pirs airlock was depressurized probably about 1510 UTC, with hatch open at 1519 UTC; hatch close was at 2118 UTC and repressurization began at 2120 UTC.

Finishing up a month which saw the crew conduct two spacewalks, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Astronauts Dan Bursch and Carl Walz spent a quiet week aboard the complex this week, completing a host of maintenance tasks, physical exercise and evaluations, and science experiments. Additional Details: here....

The International Space Station lost attitude control on for several hours. After Zvezda computers developed communications problems and failed to transfer data to the US gyros on the Z1 module, the GNC MDM computer on the US side stopped stabilizing the station. The computer problems also prevented Z1 from handing over control to the backup thruster system on Zvezda.. At 1318 UTC the Station tumbled, in danger of losing electrical power, and experiments were shut down as systems were put in emergency mode. The crew were able to manually point the US solar arrays, preventing any loss of power. The station was restored to operation later in the day, with attitude control resuming at 1843 UTC on thrusters and 1920 UTC on gyros.

Technology qualification flight - maiden flight of H-2A booster. Launch delayed from January 31 and February 3. The second stage began its first burn at 0251 UTC and at 0257 UTC entered a 500 km circular parking orbit. After a 12 minute coast the second burn put stage 2 in geostationary transfer orbit. At 0315 UTC the small DASH vehicle was meant to separate from the upper adapter, but this apparently did not occur. At 0325 UTC VEP-3/upper adapter/DASH combination separated from the second stage, followed by two semi-cylindrical side panels, revealing the previously enclosed MDS-1 technology satellite which was ejected at 0331 UTC. At 0425 UTC the second stage was scheduled to make a third burn to test engine restart, completing the H-2A-2F mission.

The VEP-3 launch instrumentation package mounted on top of the DASH had a mass of 33 kg. The side adapter panels were halves of a 4.1m long 4.0m diameter cylinder. DASH (Demonstrator of Atmospheric Reentry System and Hypervelocity) was to test the reentry system for the MUSES-C asteroid probe. The plan was to fire the deorbit motor three days after launch, then separate the reentry capsule which would enter the Earth's atmosphere at 10 km/s and land in the Hodh el Gharbi region of Mauritania at about 8.5W 17.2N. Typical satellite reentries are at only 7.5 km/s, while hyperbolic (escape) velocity at the top of the atmosphere is over 11 km/s, so DASH would have been travelling much faster than typical reentry vehicles, but not quite at escape velocity.

HESSI, the sixth Small Explorer, carried a rotating modulation collimator transform telescope, imaging solar flares in the hard X-ray spectrum. The launch marked the return to flight of Pegasus after the Hyper-X failure. The launch was originally to have occurred on 28 March 2001. The L-1011 launch aircraft took off at 19:29 GMT from the Cape Canaveral Skid Strip RW30/12, and headed out to the drop area at 28.0 N 78.5 W over the Atlantic. Drop of the Pegasus in the Atlantic Drop Zone at 28.0 N 78.5 W was at 20:58 GMT, with ignition 5 seconds later. The Pegasus reached orbit at 21:07 GMT. On the first pass it was confirmed that the solar panels had opened.

The satellite rotated at 15 rpm, imaging by reconstructing the Fourier components from the time modulation of the solar x-ray flux through a set of 9 grids each 9 cm in diameter. It was expected to make images with a resolution of 2 arcseconds at 40 keV energies and 36 arcseconds at 1 MeV energies. The launch delays meant that HESSI missed some of the best flares at solar max. Air dropped in Mayport DZ.

Mobile Telephony satellite. Return to flight after GEM solid booster failure on GBI launch. Launch delayed from February 8, 9 and 10. Five Motorola Iridium satellites were launched for Iridium Satellite LLC, the new company that bought out the bankrupt Iridium LLC. This was the first system replenishment launch since the bankruptcy.

The spacewalk was made from the Station's Quest airlock. Depressurization was at around 1134 UTC and repressurization was at 1725 UTC. The spacewalk involved some preparatory work with cables and thermal covers in advance of the EVA's planned for STS-110 and the installation of the S0 truss. It was also intended to check out proper functioning of the Quest airlock, which had some minor problems on its first use in July 2001.

Direct Broasdcasting satellite. The first launch of the Atlas 3B, with the Common Centaur stretched two-engine upper stage. Launch delayed from December 19, 2001 and January 22. The Echostar 7 communications satellite was placed into geostationary transfer orbit. The first burn of the Centaur put the stack into a 185 x 193 km x 28.1 deg parking orbit. At 1305 UTC the Centaur burned again to achieve the final 245 x 57060 km x 22.6 deg transfer orbit and separated from Echostar. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 118.92W drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

The International Space Station Expedition 4 crew returned to normal activities today after Wednesday's successful spacewalk and what largely was a day of rest on Thursday. Commander Yury Onufrienko and astronauts Carl Walz and Dan Bursch participated in a number of medical tests, including post-spacewalk checkouts for Walz and Bursch. Additional Details: here....

Communications satellite. Launch delayed from February 14 and 20. The Ariane 44L placed the Loral FS-1300HL-class Intelsat 904 satellite in a 176 x 35812 km x 7.0 deg geostationary transfer orbit. The spacecraft was to be used for Indian Ocean region communications. Intelsat 904 had a dry mass of 2350 kg and carried 2330 kg of fuel. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 59.96E drifting at 0.000E degrees per day.

This launch was the first Ariane 5 to use the 17-m Long Fairing and the first to launch north from Kourou. The booster placed the European Space Agency's Envisat polar platform in orbit. The flight profile was quite different from earlier Ariane 5 GTO launches where the EPC core stage usually reached a marginal orbit. In this case EPC separation at 350 km high 10 min after launch. The stage was on a -2610 x 651 km x 93.8 deg orbit, reaching apogee around 0125 UTC and reentering north of Ellesmere Island at about 0136 UTC. The EPS final stage with Envisat only achieved a positive perigee at 22 minutes after launch, with a circular 790 km sun-synchronous orbit reached at 25 min after launch. ESA reported the booster put the satellite to within 20 m of the desired orbital position.

Hubble Servicing Mission 3B. STS-109 main engine cutoff came at 1130 UTC with Columbia in a 55 x 574 km x 28.5 deg transfer orbit. The OMS-2 burn at about 1207 UTC raised perigee to about 195 km. There was a problem with a freon cooling loop on the Orbiter, but it wasn't quite bad enough to affect the mission. The Hubble Space Telescope closed its aperture door on March 2 in preparation for the rendezvous. Columbia got within 100m of HST by 0852 UTC on March 3 and grappled it with the RMS at 0931 UTC. HST was berthed on the FSS in Columbia's payload bay by 1032 UTC.

In the course of five spacewalks, the crew installed new equipment on HST. This was the first flight of Columbia since the launch of Chandra in 1999 following refurbishment. In the first two spacewalks, two new solar arrays were installed, and the two old arrays stowed on the RAC carrier. The RWA-1R reaction wheel assembly on the MULE carrier replaced the faltering RWA-1 in the telescope. The third spacewalk was the most difficult, as HST was entirely powered down while astronauts replaced its power controller unit, not designed for on-orbit replacement. On the fourth spacewalk the astronauts removed the European FOC camera, aboard HST since launch in 1990, and replaced it with the new ACS (Advanced Camera for Surveys). They also installed the CASH wire harness, part of the aft shroud cooling system. On the final spacewalk, the astronauts installed the NCS (NICMOS cooling system) cryocooler in the aft shround and the associated NCS radiator on the telescope's exterior. The NICMOS infrared camera had been idle since its original thermal control system failed. With the removal of FOC, the COSTAR device (which deployed contact lenses for the original instruments) became obsolete, since the newer instruments made the corrections to the incorrect HST mirror internally. Cargo manifest:

• Middeck:4 EMU spacesuits - 480 kg
• Bay 4: RAC (Rigid Array Carrier) - 2393 kg. The RAC carried the two folded SA-III rigid solar arrays which replaced the SA-II roll-up arrays. It calso carried the DBA2 diode box assembly which controlled the arrays, and a wire harness and containers associated with the NICMOS cooling system.
• Bay 7-8: SAC (Second Axial Carrier) - 2517 kg. The SAC was a specially designed pallet that flew on the first two Hubble SM flights, STS-61 and STS-82. On this flight it carried the ACS camera up (and the FOS camera down) as well as the NCS cryocooler, the PCU-R power controller, the CASH wire harness, and the thermal covers used in the PCU replacement.
• Bay 11: FSS (Flight Support System) - 2111 kg. The FSS first flew on STS 41-C (the Solar Max Repair) and was reused for each of the HST SM flights. It carried the BAPS Berthing and Positioning System, which was the docking ring for HST. Stowed on the FSS were a support post for BAPS and a cover for the HST low gain antenna.
• Bay 12: MULE (Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment Carrier) - 1409 kg. The MULE carried the NCS radiator, the NCS electronics support module, and the RWA-1R reaction wheel unit. MULE first flew on STS-48 carrying the UARS satellite, and then on STS-95 carrying the HOST payload which tested out the NCS.
• Sill: RMS arm No 201 - 410 kg

The EVA ran from 0841 to 1606 UTC. The astronauts installed the NICMOS cooling system (NCS). During preparations for EVA-3, a problem with a valve on Grunsfeld's suit caused it to leak water, and Grunsfeld switched to Newman's suit. For each of EVA-3,4,5 the appropriate size legs and arms were replaced on the same basic HUT (Hard Upper Torso)/PLSS (Primary Life Support System) combination.

Launch delayed from October 31, November 13 and 26, 2001 and February 6 due to contract dispute with Boeing over performance of earlier satellites of the series. The Centaur upper stage entered a 167 x 578 km parking orbit and then placed the payload into a 247 x 29135 km x 27.1 deg subsynchronous transfer orbit. NASA's TDRS-I (TDRS-9) data relay satellite used a Boeing BSS-601 bus and was to provide S, Ku and Ka band communications for the Shuttle and International Space Station. After launch a problem developed with the fuel supply from one of the satellite's four propellant tanks. The tanks were paired, so losing one tank cuts the propellant supply in half. A test burn of the General Dynamics R-4D apogee motor raised the orbit to 433 x 29146 km x 26.4 deg on March 11 and a larger perigee burn raised the apogee to geostationary altitude, 429 x 35800 km, on March 13. A further burn on March 19, raised the orbit to 3521 x 35789 km and lowered the inclination to 21.4 deg. A burn on March 25 raised the orbit further to 8383 x 35811 km and lowered inclination to 17.4 deg. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 62.04W drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.

First commercial flight of Rokot booster. Launch delayed from November 23-30, 2001, February 27, March 15 and 16. The Briz-KM upper stage ignited 5 minutes after launch and after a ten minute burn reached a 300 x 500 km orbit at about 0936 UTC. A second burn at 1042 UTC placed the satellites in a 483 x 506 km x 89 deg orbit; the two GRACE gravimetric satellites separated from the dispenser at 1047 UTC. A third Briz burn then lowered the rocket stage orbit to 146 x 487 km x 89 deg so that it would reenter quickly.

The Expedition 4 crew finished loading the Progress M1-7 craft, and it undocked from Zvezda's aft port at 1743 UTC. The Kolibri-2000 microsatellite was ejected from the Progress cargo compartment at 2228 UTC; Progress fired its engines to deorbit over the Pacific at about 0127 UTC on Mar 20.

ISS Servicing mission. Launch delayed from February 15 and 28. The Progress M1-8 resupply spacecraft was flown on ISS mission 7P. It docked with the Zvezda module on the Station at 2058 UTC on March 24. Progress M1-8 undocked from the Zvezda module at 0826 UTC on June 25. The deorbit burn was at 1135 UTC, lowering its orbit from 379 x 398 km x 51.6 deg to 50 x 398 km. The spacecraft reentered over the Pacific at 1213 UTC with debris impact near 46 S 144 W.

The third unmanned test of the Shenzhou spacecraft was delayed almost three months when a defective connector was found on the booster after roll-out to the pad in January 2002. The vehicle was disassembled, and all suspect connectors were replaced. The stand-down also revealed ten previously undetected defects in the space capsule. The spacecraft, the first all-up flight model with a functioning (but deactivated) launch escape system, was finally launched and placed into an initial 197 x 326 km x 42.4 deg orbit at 1425 UTC. At about 2120 UTC Shenzhou used its own engine to raise its orbit to 332 x 337 km. The capsule included a dummy astronaut instrumented to monitor life support systems. The descent module returned to Earth on April 1 at 0851 UTC, landing in Inner Mongolia. The orbital module remained in orbit to carry out further experiments, finally being deorbited on 12 November 2002. The spacecraft carried 44 scientific payloads, including a medium-resolution imaging radiometer developed by Chinese Academy of Sciences, installed on the instrument pallet atop the orbital module.

Communications satellite. Launch delayed from mid-March. After the Ariane third stage reached geostationary transfer orbit, JCSAT 8 separated, followed by the Mini-Spelda adapter, followed by Astra 3A. Astra 3A was a Boeing BSS-376HP, with a mass of 1495 kg full and about 750 kg empty. It joined Luxembourg-based SES Astra's fleet. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 153.96E drifting at 0.004W degrees per day.

Communications satellite. Launch delayed from mid-March. JCSAT 8 was a Boeing BSS-601 with a launch mass of 2600 kg and a dry mass around 1200 kg. It was to be used by Japan Satellite to replace JCSAT 2. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 24.29E drifting at 0.020W degrees per day.

Communications satellite. Moved from Proton M to Proton K booster. Launch delayed from November 26, 2001, and March 4, 2002. The three stage Proton booster put the DM3 upper stage and payload on a suborbital trajectory. The first DM3 burn reached a circular 160 km orbit at 1742 UTC. The second burn at 1838 UTC raised apogee to about 35800 km, and a third burn near apogee at 2339 UTC raised perigee to about 3500 km and lowered inclination to 25 deg. Blok DM3 separated from the Intelsat 903 payload at 0008 UTC on March 31. By April 5, Intelsat 903 was in a 31653 x 35817 km x 0.7 deg near-synchronous orbit. Intelsat 903 had a launch mass of 4726 kg and a dry mass around 2350 kg, and carried C and Ku band antennas. It was built by SS/Loral using a derivative of the FS-1300 platform. As of 2007 Mar 5 located at 34.50W drifting at 0.011W degrees per day.

The Blok-I upper stage and Oko satellite were placed in a 231 x 490 km x 62.8 deg parking orbit. Following the stage burn the Lavochkin US-KS (Oko) elliptical orbit early warning satellite built by Lavochkin was not tracked immediately, but later was reported to be in the correct standard orbit.

Launch delayed from March 22, April 4. Space Shuttle Atlantis entered an orbit of approximately 59 x 229 km x 51.6 deg at 2052 UTC, and separated from the External Tank, ET-114. ET-114 reached apogee around 2122 UTC and reentered over the Pacific about 2150 UTC at the end of its first orbit. Atlantis fired its OMS engines at apogee to raise its perigee to 155 km. Further orbit changes will lead to a rendezvous with the Space Station on Station mission 8A. STS-110 carried the S0 truss segment to the Station. The truss was the first segment of the main backbone of the Station which was to grow to carry the large solar panel wings and radiators. Cargo manifest:

• Bay 1-2: Orbiter Docking System - 1800 kg + 3 EMU spacesuits - 360 kg
• Bay 4-13: S0 Truss - 12623 kg. The S0 truss, built by Boeing/Huntington Beach, was 13.4 m long and 4.6 m in diameter. The main truss had a hexagonal cross section. One face carried fluid, power and data cables, while another face carried the rails for the Mobile Transporter. The S0 contained avionics, GPS antennae, and a radiation dose monitor. The S0 would be attached to the LCA (Lab Cradle Assembly) which was attached to the top of the Destiny lab module in 2001. Attached to S0 were:
  • 4 x MTS (Module to Truss Structure) struts. These were used to connect it to the Destiny module
  • Airlock Spur. This was a 4.2 m beam that hinged out to connect to the Quest module and had handrails for spacewalkers
  • Mobile Transporter (MT). This was made by TRW Astro Aerospace in Carpinteria and was an 885 kg, 2.7 m long truck which moved on the S0 rails to transfer heavy cargo along the truss.
• Sill: RMS arm - 410 kg
• Total: 15193 kg

"University of California-Berkeley fight song" performed by the school band and"All Right Now" performed by the Stanford University band. Ochoa requested the songs be played for crewmates Walheim and Smith who attended the rival schools. Ochoa's also a Stanford graduate.

At 1030 UTC the S0 truss was unberthed from Atlantis, and berthed to the Destiny module's Lab Cradle Assembly at 1346 UTC. At 1433 the Quest airlock was depressurized and the astronauts emerged to bolt in place the two forward MTS struts and deploy a trailing umbilical for the mobile transporter. The airlock was repressurized at 2224 UTC.

After successful installation of the S-Zero (S0) Truss and a spacewalk on Thursday, the focus of today's activities will shift from external construction of the International Space Station to the transfer of equipment, supplies and experiments between the space shuttle Atlantis and the orbiting laboratory. Additional Details: here....

The first railcar in space crept down the track of a newly installed truss structure at the International Space Station today, paving the way for the future use of the system on which the station's robotic arm will be mounted to travel the full length of the complex. Additional Details: here....

Ariane mission V150 placed Lockheed Martin A2100-class satellite NSS 7 satellite into orbit. The satellite was owned by New Skies, an Intelsat spinoff, and carried a C/Ku band telecoms payload. The spacecraft was in a 24200 x 35706 km x 0.7 deg orbit by April 24, on its way to geosynchrnous orbit. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 22.01W drifting at 0.010W degrees per day.

Launch delayed from April 10, 22 and 17. Soyuz TM-34 was launched on ISS Mission 4S with Commander Yuri Gidzenko of Rosaviakosmos, Flight Engineer is Roberto Vittori of ESA, and Tourist Mark Shuttleworth, a South African citizen. At 1210 UTC Soyuz TM-34 was in a 242 x 269 km x 51.6 deg orbit. The flight was also referred to as ISS Mission 4S, the EP-3 visiting crew flight, and even as 'Soyuz 4' by NASA. Soyuz TM-34 docked with the nadir port on the Zarya module at 0755 UTC on April 27. The 4S flight docked at the Zarya nadir port on April 27. and the crew would return to Earth in the old TM-33 vehicle, leaving TM-34 as the active ISS rescue vehicle.

Remote Sensing satellite. Last launch of Ariane 42P version. Launch delayed from April 10. The Ariane 42P, with two PAP solid boosters, flew north from Kourou. The third stage burn occurred off the east coast of North America, with engine cutoff at 0150 UTC and stage separation at 0151 UTC. Venting of the remaining third stage propellant was seen by observers in the US. SPOT Image's SPOT 5 was built by Astrium/Toulouse. The main instrument was the HRVIR imaging camera payload including a 2.5-meter resolution imager. A secondary experiment was the 5-band VEGETATION-2 instrument with 1-km resolution.

The Idefix amateur radio payload consisted of two small 6 kg boxes attached to the Ariane third stage. The payload was operated by AMSAT-F, the French branch of the amateur radio organization. (The first French satellite was nicknamed Asterix after the famous comic book character; Idefix was Asterix and Obelix's pet dog.)

Climatology and environment satellite. Launch delayed from December 20, 2001, and January 30, April 18 and 26, May 2. NASA's Aqua remote sensing satellite was placed in a 185 x 707 km x 98.1 deg transfer orbit at 1006 UTC. A second burn of the second stage of the Delta at 1048:58 UTC put Aqua in a 676 x 687 km x 98.2 deg orbit.

On May 5, 2002, after a week aboard the station, the visting Soyuz TM-34 crew of Gidzenko, Vittori and Shuttleworth moved to the old Soyuz TM-33, docked at the Pirs port. They undocked at 0031:08 UTC on May 5, leaving the EO-4 crew of Onufrienko, Walz and Bursch with the new Soyuz TM-34 as their rescue vehicle. Soyuz TM-33 made its deorbit burn at 0257 UTC and landed successfully at 0352 UTC 25 km SE of Arkalyk.

Direct Broadcasting satellite. Launch delayed from October 2000, February, May 21 and October19, 2001, as the user and launch provider moved the payload from Proton to Atlas 2AS and then back again to Proton. The DM3 upper stage made two burns to put the DirecTV satellite in a 6568 x 35809 km x 17.7 deg transfer orbit. The Loral FS-1300 class satellite used its R-4D apogee engine to reach geostationary orbit at 129 W by May 19. The DirecTV satellite broadcasting company was a subsidiary of GM/Hughes. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 110.11W drifting at 0.004W degrees per day.

Expedition 4 Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch spent most of their time this week packing for the arrival of the Expedition 5 crew aboard STS-111. Endeavour will be carrying the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with supplies and equipment for the Expedition 5 crew. The Expedition 4 crew is working to make room for those supplies, as well as prepare any equipment and scientific results that will be brought home with them aboard Leonardo. Additional Details: here....

The HY-1 (Haiyang-1) marine observation satellite separated shortly after the FY-1D. The 360 kg HY-1 was based on the SJ-5 bus and carried an IR radiometer and CCD imager for oceanographic studies. Between May 21 and May 26, HY-1 lowered its orbit to 793 x 799 km using on-board propulsion.

The second stage separated six minutes after launch, putting the stack on a suborbital trajectory. After a brief coast up to 860 km the third stage fired at around 0200 UTC to circularize the orbit. FY-1D, a 950 kg weather satellite with a 10-channel radiometer, separated from the stack followed by a small adapter. The final stage was left in a slightly lower 812 x 883 km orbit.

The Expedition 4 crew of the International Space Station spent much of this week preparing for the arrival of Endeavour on STS-111 and their return home. They packed equipment and supplies for return to Earth aboard Endeavour. They also reconfigured and checked out spacesuits and the station's joint airlock in preparation for three spacewalks at the station by Endeavour mission specialists Franklin Chang-Diaz and Philippe Perrin. Additional Details: here....

Military Observation satellite. Return to flight of the Shavit booster following a lauanch failure. Launch delayed from third quarter 2001. The three-stage Shavit rocket took off from Palmachim Air Force Base on the Israeli coast and flew westward to put the satellite in a retrograde orbit. The AUS-51 third stage solid motor entered a 262 x 774 km x 143.5 deg orbit and separated from the Ofeq satellite. Both coasted up to apogee at around 1620 UTC when Ofeq made a burn to increase its velocity by 33 m/s, raising the orbit to 369 x 771 km x 143.5 deg.

The Kosmos-3M rocket entered a transfer orbit of about 150 x 1000 km x 83 deg at about 1823 UTC; a second burn at apogee around 1905 UTC circularized the orbit at 950 x 1016 km. The Parus navigation satellite was placed in Plane 4, probably replacing Cosmos 2336; it was between the planes of Cosmos 2366 and Cosmos 2361.

Intelsat 905 was launched into a geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite had a mass of 1984 kg with 2739 kg of propellant and was built by Loral for the privatized Intelsat company. It was to be stationed over the Atlantic. The Intelsat 905 satellite used a new version of the venerable General Dynamics R-4D bipropellant engine, the R-4D-15 HiPAT (High Performance Apogee Thruster) with a thrust of 445N. The first two HiPATs were built by Marquardt/Van Nuys, but new ones were built at GD's Redmond site. By June 15, I-905 was in a 35642 x 35793 km x 0.1 deg geostationary drift orbit at 26 deg W. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 24.48W drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.

Launch delayed from May 2, 6, 30, 31 and June 4. STS-111 reached a 58 x 224 km x 51.6 deg orbit at 2131 UTC and separated from the External Tank. It coasted to apogee at 2201 UTC and carried out the OMS-2 burn to raise the orbit to 158 x 235 km. The mission of STS-111 (UF-2 ISS utilization flight) was to swap the Expedition 4 and 5 crews and deliver the MBS Mobile Base System and some interior experiment racks. Endeavour docked with the Station at 1625 UTC on June 7. The Leonardo MPLM module was attached to the Station on June 8. Cargo manifest:

• Bay 1-2: Orbiter Docking System - 1800 kg + 2 EMU spacesuits - 240 kg
• Bay 4: Mobile Base System (MBS) - 1600 kg. The Mobile Base System was made by MD Robotics of Brampton, Ontario. It was to be attached to the Mobile Transporter and used to mount the SSRMS Canadarm-2 arm and heavy payloads.
• Bay 6P: Adapter Beam / Wrist Roll Joint - 150 kg. The WRJ (Wrist Roll Joint) would be swapped with the broken one on the SSRMS arm.
• Bay 7-12: MPLM FM1 "Leonardo" - 10557 kg. The Leonardo module carried 8 Resupply Stowage Racks and 4 Resupply Stowage Plaftorms, with equipment to be transferred to the station. It also carried two science racks: the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) and Express-3, which would be installed on Destiny. Leonardo, built by Alenia Spazio in Torino, also flew on STS-102 and STS-105.
• Bay 13P: ICAPC Beam / PGDF - 75 kg. The PGDF (Power-Data Grapple Fixture) would be installed on the P6 truss.
• Bay 13S: Adapter Beam / SMDP - 200 kg. The Service Module Debris Panels (SMDP) package contained 6 panels which would be stowed on PMA-1 until a later spacewalk attached them to the Zvezda module to protect it from space debris hits.
• Total: 14622 kg

The spacewalk was made from the Quest airlock, which was depressurized at around 1522 UTC and the hatch was opened at 1524 UTC. The suits went to battery power at 1527 UTC. The astronauts installed the PGDF grapple fixture on the P6 truss, stowed some space debris shields on the PMA-1 adapter, and prepared the Mobile Base System (MBS) in the Shuttle cargo bay. The hatch was closed at 2234 UTC and the airlock began repressurization at 2242 UTC.

Launch delayed from May 2002. The Ekspress A1R Russian domestic communications satellite was built by NPO PM and Alcatel for Kosmicheskiya Svyaz, the Russian satcom operator. The Proton's parking orbit was off-nominal but the 11S861-01 Blok DM-2M upper stage corrected for this and delivered the payload to the correct orbit. Parking orbit was about 180 x 185 km x 51.6 deg; transfer orbit after the first DM-2M burn was 328 x 36133 km x 47.4 deg; orbit at spacecraft separation was 36102 x 36171 km x 0.2 deg. Two SOZ ullage motors were left in the transfer orbit. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 14.07W drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.

The MBS had been unberthed sometime around 2220 UTC and docked to the Mobile Transporter at 1304 UTC on June 10. On June 11 at about 1515 UTC the Quest was depressurized again, with Chang-Diaz and Perrin opening the hatch around the same time and going to battery power at 1520 UTC. During this spacewalk the astronauts completed setting up the MBS system. The hatch was closed at 2016 UTC and Quest was repressurized at 2020 UTC.

Endeavour's astronauts - Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Franklin Chang-Díaz, Philippe Perrin, Yury Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch - were awakened about 4:30 Central time this morning to the sound of "Chasing Sheep is Best Left to Shepherds," by Peter Greenaway, selected for Perrin by his family. The wakeup call began the eighth day of Endeavour's supply, assembly and maintenance mission to the International Space Station. Additional Details: here....

The EVA was from the Quest airlock. Depress was at 1512 UTC with hatch open probably at 1514 and battery power at 1516. The astronauts replaced the wrist roll joint on the station's Canadarm-2 SSRMS robot arm; the old joint was stowed in Endeavour's cargo bay for return to Earth. The hatch was closed at 2229 UTC and the airlock was repressurized at 2233 UTC. At around 1918 UTC on June 14 the Shuttle RMS unberthed the Leonardo logistics module from Unity and put it back in the cargo bay, berthing it at 2011 UTC.

Launch delayed from July 2001 and May 28, June 2 and 9, 2002. The Galaxy 3C satellite was launched from the Odyssey floating launch platform at its standard 154W 0N location. The Zenit second stage and the DM third stage with payload entered a -2160 x 195 km suborbital trajectory at 2248:10. At about 2252 UTC the DM stage entered a 180 x 393 km x 0 deg parking orbit. A second burn of the DM at 2324 to 2330 UTC put Galaxy 3C in a 358 x 41440 km x 0.02 deg transfer orbit This was a record low inclination for a geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite's R-4D apogee engine was to put the Boeing BSS-702 satellite in geostationary orbit. The satellite was the first 702 model to use extra solar panels instead of the solar concentrators which ran into fogging problems on the earlier 702 flights. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 95.06W drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.

The hatches between Shuttle and Station were closed at 1223 UTC, with the Expedition 4 crew on the Shuttle for the trip home. Expedition 5 crew members Valeriy Korzun, Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treshchev remain aboard the Station. Endeavour undocked at 1432 UTC, leaving the Station in a 389 x 399 km x 51.6 deg orbit following three reboost burns. After two days of bad weather, Endeavour was diverted to Edwards AFB in California, with a deorbit burn at 1650 UTC on Jun 19 lowering its orbit from 347 x 387 km to 34 x 386 km. The Shuttle nominally entered the atmosphere around 1726 UTC and landed on Runway 22 at Edwards at 17:57:41 UTC.

"I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher from the"Groundhog Day" movie soundtrack."Groundhog Day's"I Got You Babe" is a recurring theme for wakeup calls on missions which have been extended an additional two days, with the astronauts having to repeat their deorbit activities each day only to be told that because of bad weather they're going to go through the same tasks again the next day. For commander Ken Cockrell this was his third mission in a row where he's stayed in orbit for an additional two days in the hopes of good weather in Florida.

Launch delayed from August 2001. The refurbished Titan 2 missile put the NOAA M satellite on a suborbital trajectory of about -2500 x 820 km x 98 deg. at 1829 UTC. At 1837 UTC the NOAA M propulsion module fired its ATK/Thiokol Star 37XFP solid motor for the orbit insertion burn, followed by a hydrazine trim burn to put the satellite in an 807 x 822 km x 98.8 deg operational orbit. NOAA M became NOAA 17 on entering service with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as the primary morning weather satellite, supplementing the NOAA 16 afternoon satellite. Built by Lockheed Martin, NOAA M carried weather imagers and microwave and infrared sounders, as well as a SARSAT search-and-rescue package. It had an on-orbit mass of 1475 kg.

Progress M1-8 undocked from the Zvezda module at 0826 UTC on June 25. The deorbit burn was at 1135 UTC, lowering its orbit from 379 x 398 km x 51.6 deg to 50 x 398 km. The spacecraft reentered over the Pacific at 1213 UTC with debris impact near 46 S 144 W.

Launch delayed from May 21, then moved forward from July 14. Progress M-46 was launched on ISS mission 8P and docked with the Zvezda module at 0623 UTC on June 29 after carrying out tests of the Kurs rendezvous system on June 28. Seperated from ISS and commanded to destructive re-entry on 14 October 2002.

A Russian Progress resupply craft docked to the International Space Station early today, three days after its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Aboard the unpiloted Progress 8 are food, fuel and supplies for the space station and its Expedition 5 crew. Additional Details: here....

Launch delayed from July 1st. The latest NASA Discovery mission was successfully launched on Jul 3. The CONTOUR (Comet Nucleus Tour) probe, built and operated by the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), began its five year mission to explore three comets, using repeated encounters with the earth to modify its orbit in order to reach each target. The first burn of the second stage completed at 0659 UTC putting the spacecraft in a 185 x 197 km x 29.7 deg parking orbit. At 0746 UTC the second stage restarted for a short 4s burn to 185 x 309 km x 29.7 deg, and then separated once the PAM-D (ATK Star 48B) solid third stage was spun up. The 1.5 minute burn of the third stage motor at 0748 UTC put it and CONTOUR in a 90 x 106689 km x 30.5 deg phasing orbit. By July 8 CONTOUR's orbit was 214 x 106686 km x 29.8 deg. CONTOUR stayed in this phasing orbit until August 15, when it was injected into solar orbit using its internal ATK Star 30 solid motor. Flyby of the first target, comet 2P/Encke, was scheduled for Nov 2003.

Launch delayed from late June. Stellat-5 was an Alcatel Spacebus 3000B3 with a dry mass of 1805 kg and 2245 kg of propellant. The satellite carried Ku-band and C-band transponders, and was a joint venture between France Telecom and Europeon.Star which was to provide 2-way internet access and video transmission from 5 deg W. Stellat-5 was colocated with France Telecom's Telecom 2C. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 4.99W drifting at 0.000E degrees per day.

Launch delayed from late June. The N-Star c satellite was an S-band satellite for mobile telephone communications for NTT DoCoMo of Japan. N-Star c had a communications payload built by Lockheed Martin and used the Star 2 bus from Orbital. The small Star 2 satellite had a dry mass around 800 kg and was the first flight of a new Orbital hydrazine/nitrogen tetroxide liquid apogee propulsion system with a 500N thrust apogee engine developed by Japan's IHI. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 135.92E drifting at 0.012W degrees per day.

The Kosmos-3M rocket launched a pair of Russian Defense Ministry Strela-3 communications relay satellites. Previously Strela-3 satellites were launched in groups of six aboard Tsiklon rockets into 1390 x 1415 km orbits, significantly lower than this new profile. Strela-3 satellites were used by the GRU intelligence agency.

The Shuttle fleet was grounded for several weeks when cracks were found in the flowliners of the liquid hydrogen lines within the shuttles. These lines supplied cold liquid hydrogen from the external tank to the shuttle engines. After several weeks of study NASA concluded that they could be fixed by welding, but the problem delayed the next ISS assembly mission and pushed the STS-107 Columbia science mission into 2003.

The Russian Navy launched the IRDT-2 spacecraft using a surplus R-29R Volna from the submarine K-44 Ryazan. The spacecraft was launched on a suborbital trajectory from the Barents Sea and landed in Kamchatka. After third stage separation the IRDT fired a boost motor to increase its speed and then inflated the first stage of its heat shield.

Expedition 5 crewmembers, Commander Valery Korzun, Astronaut Peggy Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev, wrapped up a busy week of successful science and maintenance work, a week that saw completion of one major repair task on the environmental control system of the International Space Station. Additional Details: here....

This was the second launch of the Arkon-1 electro-optical reconnaissance. The 17S40 Blok DM5 upper stage and satellite were placed by the Proton into a parking orbit. The DM then made two burns to place the satellite in its 1500 x 1836 km x 64.4 deg operational orbit.

Commander Valery Korzun, Astronaut Peggy Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev passed 50 days in space aboard the International Space Station this week, conducting scientific research, maintenance work, educational demonstrations and hometown news interviews. Additional Details: here....

In the second launch of the HyShot program, the Terrier-Orion Mk70 rocket boosted the payload, which remain attached to the second stage Orion motor, toward a planned apogee of 330 km. After peaking at 314 km, the trajectory was designed so that the payload was moving at Mach 7.6 between 35 km and 23 km on the way down, at which point the measurements of supersonic combustion were made. This was claimed to be the first successful test of a scramjet in flight.

Flight Time: 0.2 hours Pilot: Shane Copilot: Siebold. Objectives: First flight. Handling qualities assessment and basic performance evaluation. Systems evaluation. Cabin un-pressurized. Results: Un-commanded hammering auxiliary spoiler deployments after takeoff. Flight aborted to downwind for an uneventful landing. No apparent flying qualities issues noted. Auxiliary spoilers were disabled for future flights.

Flight Time: 1.5 hours Pilot: Shane Copilot: Siebold. Objectives: First flight test card repeat. Flying qualities assessment and basic performance evaluation. Avionics and pneumatic systems evaluation. Cabin un-pressurized. Results: Envelope expansion to 15,000 feet and 140 knots. Overall satisfactory stability, good control harmony and impressive performance. Heavy airframe buffet at high speeds with both sets of speed brakes deployed. "Best airplane the company has ever built"

The astronauts used Russian spacesuits Orlan-M No. 14 and 23 and exited from the Pirs airlock of the ISS. The first attempt was called off after 23 minutes of depressurised airlock time because of a misconfigured oxygen valve in a spacesuit. The EVA officially shortly after 0906 when the hatch was opened. The astronauts attached six debris protection shields to the outside of the Zvezda module. Due to the late start some planned tasks were deferred.

Flight Time: 2.8 hours Pilot: Melvill Copilot: Shane. Objectives: New pilot qual eval. Envelope expansion out to 25,000 feet and 150 knots. First flight with the cabin pressurized for environmental control system tests . Results: Satisfactory handling and performance. Buffet barriers determined for inboard and outboard speed brakes. Significant window fogging experienced after cold soak at altitude.

This was the maiden flight of the Atlas 5 EELV. Launch delayed from May 9, July 8 and 29, August 6 and 12 due to both payload and booster delays. Hot Bird 6 was a European (EUTELSAT) geostationary communications spacecraft. The 4.9-ton Hot Bird 6 (a Spacebus 3000B3) was to provide digital radio and television coverage to Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East through its 28 Ku-band and four Ka-band transponders after being parked over 13° E longitude. As of 2007 Mar 4 located at 12.95E drifting at 0.012E degrees per day.

Launch delayed from June 16 and 22, July 18, August 2 and 20 due to payload problems. Echostar 8 was an American geostationary communication spacecraft. The 4.7-ton satellite was to provide digital TV broadcast to North America through its 16 spot beams and 41 transponders in the Ku-band after parking over 110° W longitude. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 110.01W drifting at 0.003W degrees per day.

The Expedition Five crew spent a large portion of its week preparing for the next scheduled spacewalk. Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev plan to leave the Pirs Docking Compartment of the International Space Station around 12:00 a.m. Central time (0500 GMT) Monday, Aug. 26, to begin a six-hour spacewalk. While Korzun and Treschev work outside, Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson will tend to space station systems and assist the spacewalkers as necessary. She will also maneuver the Canadarm2 to provide camera views of the cosmonauts for the two mission control centers. Additional Details: here....

The astronauts used Russian spacesuits Orlan-M No. 14 and 12. The Pirs airlock hatch was opened at 0527. The pair installed a storage locker on Zarya, changed out some sample trays for exposure experiments, and mounted two amateur radio antennae on the station.

Flight Time: 2.5 hours Pilot: Siebold Copilot: Shane. Objectives: New pilot qual eval. Envelope expansion out to 35,000 feet and 150 knots / 0.4M and 3 G's. Engine relight performance. Avionics software upgrade. Results: Experienced a rudder dead-band (poor centering) at the higher altitudes. Dihedral effect is neutral at higher speeds. Window fogging on descent. Numerous flight director attitude display resets.

Launch delayed from August 27. Atlantic Bird was a European (EUTELSAT) geostationary communications spacecraft. The 2.7-ton (1550 kg dry with 1150 propellant), 5 kW satellite was to provide voice, video, and Internet services to Europe and the eastern part of America through its 24 transponders after being parked over 12.5° W. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 12.49W drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

Launch delayed from August 27. MSG 1 (Meteosat Second Generation 1) was a European (EUMETSAT consortium) geostationary weather satellite. After first being parked over 10° E longitude for six months it was later to be moved to zero degree longitude. As of 2007 Mar 7 located at 3.50W drifting at 0.015W degrees per day.

NASA awarded TRW a $824 million contract to build the Next Generation Space Telescope, redesignated the James Webb Space Telescope. TRW beat out Lockheed Martin, builder of the Hubble Space Telescope which the Webb was to replace. Launch of the 6-metre aperture telescope was not expected until 2010 at the earliest.

Flight Time: 2.0 hours Pilot: Binnie Copilot: Shane. Objectives: New pilot qual eval. Envelope expansion out to 45,000 feet and 160 knots / 0.5M. Practice SpaceShipOne glide approaches. Effectiveness of new tail vortex generators and clipped outboard speed brakes. Results: The new VGs eliminated the high-altitude rudder dead-band. Encountered undamped rudder vibration at 25,000 feet and 160 knots during flutter envelope expansion. Engine flameout at 45,000 feet. Un-safe main gear indication for landing (a microswitch adjustment). Clipped otbd speed brake showed no change.

Intelsat 906 was a geostationary communications spacecraft of the international Intelsat consortium (privatised as Intelsat Ltd.). It was to provide Internet, telephony, and television broadcasts to Europe, Asia, and Australia through its 72 C- and 22 Ku-band transponders after being parked over 64° E longitude. It replaced Intelsat 804 which was to then be moved to 176° E to handle the increased cross-Atlantic demand. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 64.19E drifting at 0.001W degrees per day.

Launch delayed from August 2002. First operational flight of H-2A booster. USERS (Unmanned Space Experiment Recovery System) was a Japanese microgravity experimental satellite. After 8.5 months in orbit, a reentry vehicle was to be returned to earth with the materials manufacturered in space.

Launch delayed from August 2002. First operational flight of H-2A booster. DRTS (Data Relay Transponder Satellite) was a Japanese geostationary communications spacecraft which was to relay images and data procured by the to-be-launched ADEOS 2 and ALOS satellites, and the KIBO module on ISS, after being parked over 90° E. However the engine failed after a couple of burns. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 90.76E drifting at 0.005W degrees per day.

METSAT 1 was an Indian (ISRO) meteorological, geostationary satellite that was launched by an upgraded, four-stage PSLV-C4 rocket. The satellite was manoeuvred from the transfer orbit to a geostationary postion at 37° E longitude on September 16, and then was parked at 74° E longitude on September 24. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 74.00E drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.

The fifth resident crew on the International Space Station completed 100 days in space at 4:23 p.m. CDT today as it wrapped up a week that saw the first-ever on orbit operational use of ultrasound for medical diagnosis. The busy week also included completion of the first materials science experiment in the station's new Microgravity Sciences Glovebox, a reboost of the station's orbital altitude, and a day of robotic arm activity. Additional Details: here....

Launch delayed from May 28, August 14. Hispasat 1D was a Spanish geostationary communications spacecraft. The 3.3-ton, 7.0-kW satellite carried three antennae looking in different directions to provide video, data, and Internet services to Europe, North America, and North Africa via 28 Ku-band transponders after being parked over 30° W longitude alongside Hispasat 1A, 1B, and 1C. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 29.97W drifting at 0.014W degrees per day.

Launch delayed from July 22, September 10 and 20. Progress-M1 9, known to NASA as Progress 9P, was a Russian automatic cargo transportation craft that was to deliver food, fuel, and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). It docked with the Zvezda module of the ISS on September 29 at 1700 UTC. Prior to the docking, the port was vacated by the earlier Progress-M 46. Undocked from the station on 1 February 2003 and commanded to destructive re-entry in the atmosphere.

An unmanned Russian resupply craft successfully docked to the International Space Station Sunday, bringing almost a ton of food, fuel and supplies to the residents on board, and for the next trio of space travelers, which will arrive on the ISS in November. Additional Details: here....

With Houston's Mission Control Center (MCC) back in operation, the deliberate power up of the International Space Station is proceeding as planned. The huge U.S. solar wings are again tracking the sun after being put in a fixed position when the Mission Control Center here was powered down in the face of a threat from Hurricane Lili. Additional Details: here....

ISS Assembly flight delayed from March 22, April 4, August 22, September 28, October 2 due to payload delays and then SSME problems. American shuttle spacecraft STS-112 carried a crew of five Americans and one Russian to the International Space Station (ISS). During the 11-day mission, the crew extended the truss system of the exterior rail line with a 14-m, 13-ton girder. The crew also tested a manual cart on the rails. The cart, named CETA (Crew and Equipment Transportation Aid), was designed to increase mobility of crew and equipment during the later installation phases. STS-112 landed back in Cape Canaveral at 15:43 UT on 2002 October 18 carrying the same crew of six.

Flight Time: 0.9 hours Pilot: Shane Copilot: Binnie. Objectives: Evaluate rudder mass balance modifications. Effectiveness of engine bleed air heating of the fuselage aft of the cabin (first test of SpaceShipOne Nitrous heating system). Results: Rudder vibration problem resolved. Flight cut short due to suspected over-temp of aft cabin bulkhead from engine bleed air.

Flight Time: 3.0 hours Pilot: Shane Copilot: Binnie. Objectives: Completion of Flight 6 objectives. Airspeed and altitude envelope expansion, 45,000 feet / 160 knots / 0.5M Results: No structural damping issues found. Engine operation satisfactory. Some window fogging on descent. Some degradation of pneumatic actuators due to cold soaking. Insufficient dihedral effect at high speed/high altitude.

After a very busy day Thursday, the combined shuttle and space station crew took several hours of off-duty time today, and then began transfer operations between the vehicles and preparations for the second of the mission's three spacewalks scheduled to begin at 9:41 a.m. Saturday. Additional Details: here....

Successful intercept. The target suite consisted of a mock warhead and a number of decoys launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, towards the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein. IFT-9 (largely a replay of IFT-8) was designed to increase confidence in the GMD capability to execute hit-to-kill intercepts. Overall, the test execution was nominal although the EKV experienced the track gate anomaly previously observed in IFT-7 and IFT-8. The software changes incorporated in IFT-9 to mitigate this problem were not successful. The Aegis SPY-1 radar was used for the first time in a national missile defense capacity.

Launch delayed from October 9. Foton-M No. 1 (Foton-13) was an improved version of the Foton materials processing satellite. The 6425 kg satellite carried a variety of microgravity experiments including those of the European Space Agency. The satellite was destroyed in the accident.

Flight Time: 1.6 hours Pilot: Melvill Copilot: Binnie. Objectives: Envelope expansion above 50,000 feet and 0.55M. Avionics software upgrade. Practice SpaceShipOne glide approaches Results: Climbed to 53,000 feet and 0.53M in Military power. Cleared the full required envelope needed for SpaceShipOne launch operations. Flying qualities at highest altitude are satisfactory and will not require dampers. Window fogging not an issue until the cabin was depressurized at 10,000 feet.

Flight Time: 2.2 hours Pilot: Binnie Copilot: Siebold. Objectives: Boost phase pilot training. Formation flying and air-to-air photography with the Proteus aircraft. Results: Adequate visibility and satisfactory flying qualities for formation flying. A photo from this flight later appeared on the cover of Aviation Week (21Apr03 issue).

JB-3 2 was nominally a Chinese (PRC) remote sensing satellite, although US intelligence sources indicated it had primarily an intelligence imaging mission. JB-3 2 was the name adopted by the USSPACECOM. Most news reports from China and elsewhere use different names: ZY-2B (acronym for ZiYuan-2B, translated as Resource-2B), and Zhong Guo Zi Yuan Er Hao, translated as China Resource 2. No information was available on the instruments onboard the JB-3 2, but officially it was intended 'for territorial survey, environment monitoring and protection, urban planning, crop yield assessment, disaster monitoring, and space scientific experiments'. The initial orbital parameters of this sun-synchronous satellite were period 94.1 min, apogee 483 km, perigee 470 km, and inclination 97.4°.

Right on time, a Russian-Belgian cosmonaut crew blasted off in a newly modified Soyuz capsule from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan tonight, headed for a linkup to the International Space Station later this week to deliver a fresh crew return vehicle. Additional Details: here....

Launch delayed from October 22, 28 pending investigation of causes of failure of another Soyuz booster on 15 October. Soyuz-TMA 1 was a Russian automatic passenger craft. It carried the EP-4 visiting crew of three astronauts (two Russians and one Belgian) to automatically dock with the International Space Station (ISS). This was the first flight of the new Soyuz-TMA model. It was to remain parked at the ISS as the escape craft, relieving the Soyuz TM-34. The crew conducted several microgravity experiments on the ISS during their 10-day stay before returning in Soyuz TM-34.

Flight Time: 2.4 hours Pilot: Siebold Copilot: Binnie. Objectives: Continued engine, ECS and avionics evaluation. High-rate nose wheel steering assessment. Results: Difficulty maintaining afterburner on left engine near 50,000 feet. Improved ECS configuration showed improved resistance to fogging. Nose wheel steering gearing change about the same.

All six people living aboard the International Space Station have started packing up for their return to Earth. The visiting "taxi crew" will be coming home tomorrow after delivering a new crew return capsule and performing a host of experiments, and the Expedition 5 crew, which has been on orbit for nearly five months, will return aboard the space shuttle later this month. Additional Details: here....

Flight Time: 2.0 hours Pilot: Binnie Copilot: Siebold. Objectives: Continued engine, ECS and avionics evaluation. Simulated wheel brake failure landing rollout. Results: Conclusion: aircraft can be landed at MHV if a wheel brake fails. More engine irregularities at high altitude. Engines removed and sent to test cell for fuel control calibration and adjustments.

Maiden flight of the Delta 4 EELV booster, delayed due to development problems from January and November 2001, April 30, July 15, August 31, October 9, November 3, 16 and 19. EUTELSAT W5 was a European (EUTELSAT Consortium) geostationary communication spacecraft. EUTELSAT W5 was to provide voice, video, and Internet services to all countries in western Europe, central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent through its 24 Ku-band transponders after being parked over 70.5° E longitude. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 70.55E drifting at 0.004W degrees per day.

MEPSI (Micro-Electromechanical-based Picosat Satellite Inspection Experiment) consisted of two 1 kg boxes attached to each other by a 15-m tether. The boxes included an imaging camera and a MEM transceiver. They were ejected from the PLA (Picosat Launch Assembly) of shuttle Endeavour, a 6 kg box attached to an Adaptive Payload Carrier (APC) on the payload bay side wall.

ISS assembly mission ISS-11A delayed from August 22, September 6, 19, October 6, November 2, 10, 11, 19 and 23 due to SSME problems and then damage to the Shuttle's manipulator arm. Shuttle mission STS-113 carried a crew of seven astronauts (six American and one Russian) and a 13.7-m truss of 12.5 tons to the International Space Station (ISS). During several hours of EVA, the crew installed and secured the truss assembly. The truss was to provide structural support for the station's thermal control radiators, and brought the total mass of the ISS to over 200 tons. Prior to leaving the ISS, the shuttle released a pair of tethered (15-m long) picosatellites. It was to leave the ISS on December 2.

Delayed from December 2001 and July 15, August 16 and 25. Astra 1K was to be a European (Luxembourg-based) geostationary communications spacecraft. The 5.0-ton, 13-kW spacecraft was the most massive of civilian communications spacecraft ever launched. Its 52 Ku-band and two Ka-band transponders could cover 1,100 channels and were to replace three earlier Astra satellites. However the DM-3 upper stage, after operating successfully to place itself and the satellite in parking orbit, failed to ignite for transfer orbit injection, leaving the spacecraft stranded in parking orbit. In an effort to prevent imminent re-entry, the spacecraft was raised to a circular orbit at an altitude of 290 km. Three options were considered: force re-entry over the Pacific Ocean; retrieval by a US shuttle; or use of all the fuel aboard the satellite to attempt to move it to a geostationary orbit at 19.2° E longitude. The decision was taken in December to deorbit the spacecraft, resulting in a huge insurance loss and bringing into question both continued use of the Block D series of upper stages and the 'bigger is better' comsat philosophy.

The crew of Endeavour was awakened at 7:26 a.m. to begin a day that will see the installation of the Port One (P1) truss onto the International Space Station. The P1 is the third such truss to be installed on the station this year and is one of 11 truss segments that will make up the station's final Integrated Truss Structure. Additional Details: here....

The first spacewalk for installation of the P1 truss began at 1947 UTC. The astronauts emerged from the Quest module, attached the P1/S0 umbilicals, removed the P1 drag links and the CETA-B cart's launch restraints. They also installed more SPD disconnects on the ammonia lines, and attached a TV camera to the truss.

The rocket reached 42 km altitude and a speed of 902 meters per second. It impacted in the West Sea 85 km from the coastal launch site, 231 seconds after launch. In preparation for the launch, KARI and related agencies successfully carried out ignition tests in May and August.

Delayed from September 12, October 29. ALSAT 1 was an Algerian imaging minisatellite. The 90-kg satellite was the first part of an international Disaster Monitoring System (DMS) for alerting natural/man-made disasters. ALSAT was built by Surrey Satellite for the CNTS (Centre National des Techniques Spatiales) in Algiers. It carriee a 32-m resolution 3-band imager, a 100 mN resistojet thruster for small orbit corrections, and a GPS receiver. The SSTL Microsat-100 class satellite was a 0.60m cube with a 6m gravity gradient boom. As well as gravity gradient stabilization, it used a momentum wheel to improve stability for imaging.

Delayed from September 12, October 29. Rubin-3-DSI, with a mass of 45 kg, was built by PO Polyot of Omsk (builders of the Kosmos-3M) and OHB System of Bremen. It remained attached to the booster final stage and measured the launch vehicle environment and performance

Delayed from September 12, October 29. Mozhaets was a Russian experimental, 90-kg minisatellite. It was designed and built by the cadets and teachers of a military space academy to learn about spacecraft operations. It may have been based on the Strela-1M small communications satellite bus. It included a GLONASS/GPS receiver, a particle detector, and an amateur radio payload.

The third and final spacewalk of STS-113 ended at 8:25 p.m. central time today, as Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington climbed back inside the Quest Airlock. The two spacewalkers spent seven hours outside the International Space Station today, continuing the outfitting of the newly-installed P1 truss segment. Additional Details: here....

It was planned to use the Mobile Transporter as a base for the SSRMS arm during the spacewalk. The MT was moved from worksite 4 on S0 to worksite 7 at the end of P1. Motion began at 1621 UTC but the MT got stuck a few meters short of its goal. The crew fell back on contingency training and opened the hatch of the Quest module at 1924 UTC. Instead of using the SSRMS for transport they spacewalked down the truss to the location of the MT. Here it was found that the MT was blocked by the undeployed P1 UHF antenna. The astronauts deployed it, clearing the MT's path. The MT finally reached its destination at 0011 UTC. This incident indicated problems with ISS configuration control but also showed the value of the astronauts' ability to handle unforeseen contingencies. During the spacewalk, the astronauts installed more fixes to the Station's ammonia line connectors, although dealing with the MT problem meant not all of the planned work could be completed.

Delayed from October 29, November 21 and 23. The third and final Advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite satellite separated from the Centaur upper stage 30 minutes after launch. This completed the $800 million, three satellite contract. Last launch of the Atlas 2A booster. Flight delayed from October 29, November 21 and 23. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 40.92W drifting at 0.012E degrees per day.

Maiden flight of Ariane 5 EC-A. Delayed from October, November 20 and 28. Stentor, a French experimental geostationary direct broadcast communications satellite, was lost in the failed first flight of the Ariane 5 EC-A. Value of the lost satellite was Euro 388 million.

Attempted anti-ballistic missile night intercept. The EKV failed to separate from the surrogate boost vehicle. The failure to separate was attributed to a quality control failure combined with shank and vibration loads on the EKV. As a result, corrective measures taken to fix the track gate anomaly found in previous tests could not be tested. GMD suspended intercept flight testing after IFT-10. IFT-11 and IFT-12 that employed the problematic surrogate booster were eliminated from the schedule.

The US Air Force asked the Congress to provide $1 billion of subsidies in 2004-2009 for the Atlas V and Delta 4 EELV launch vehicles. The collapse of the commercial satellite market invalidated the cost model on which the manufacturers invested their own funds in development. Lack of adequate sales could have meant the closure of the production line of one or both of the launch vehicles on which the US government would rely for future space missions. The US Air Force asked for a $200-million first tranche n FY2004.

FedSat contained high-tech communication, space science, navigation and computing equipment and was intended to help bring broadband Internet services to remote parts of Australia. Data from its three-year mission was to be shared between Japan and Australia.

Technology. In 2003 the satellite released two tiny subsatellites in an experiment to test an onboard tracking imager for inspector satellites. The RITE (Remote Inspection Technology Experiment) targets are disks about 0.1m in diameter. They were released from Micro-LabSat on 2003 Mar 14 at 0140 UTC and 2003 May 14 at 0150 UTC

Launch delayed from late November, then December 12. The Dutch New Skies Satellites' NSS-6 telecommunications spacecraft was developed by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems. It was to be positioned at 95 deg E to provide broadcasting and business services coverage of the Pacific Rim, Australia, India, the Middle East and southern Africa. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 95.01E drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.

First test flight of a large hybrid propulsion system. The Suborbital Aerodynamic Reentry Experiment payload, a joint project between Ames and Wallops, included a 'wave rider' flying wedge, a linear aerobrake (or hypersonic parachute), and a Slotted Compression Ramp Probe (SCRAMP), a super stable planetary reentry probe. The wedge was 127 centimeters long and was to free fly like a glider after deployment.

International Space Station Expedition 6 crewmembers, Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin, and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit, began their second month aboard the orbiting laboratory on Christmas Day. While they had some duties to attend to - checking the environmental control system and the status of payloads aboard the U.S. laboratory Destiny - it was basically a day off. Additional Details: here....

Final unmanned test of the Shenzhou spacecraft. First night launch of the CZ-2F was viewed by Party leaders on a very cold but clear night. The spacecraft carried fifty-two science payloads in four main areas: microwave Earth observation, space environment monitoring, microgravity fluid physics, and biological technology research. The spacecraft's reentry capsule was successfully recovered on 5 January 2003 at 1116 UT. The Chinese released the news and photographs of the capsule in the dusk snow only an hour later. The landing site was 40 km from Hohhot (40.51deg N, 111.38 deg E). As in prior missions, the orbital module continued in orbit. Chinese astronauts trained on the actual flight hardware before the launch and it was officially announced that this successful mission set the stage for a first Chinese manned spaceflight in the second half of 2003. Western observors noted that the orbit and ground track allowed launch of a second rendezvous vehicle, an indication of future manned space station missions. Shenzhou 4 carried 52 scientific payloads including a microwave radiometer using a reflector antenna, installed on top of the orbital module.