Re: Progress M-27

From: Rainer Kracht <R.KRACHT_at_ABBS.heide.de>
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 14:05:40 -0400
>Just thought I'd point out the launch of Progress M-27 due (according to
>the latest information I have) on Saturday 8th April at 1923 UTC.

This launch time seems to be rather improbable. Launches to Mir happen,
when the geographical longitude of the ascending node of Mir's orbit is
near +9.2 deg (east). With latest elements from NASA OIG

Mir
1 16609U 86017A   95096.21604412  .00004056  00000-0  59056-4 0  9885
2 16609  51.6454 158.3104 0005042 345.6081  14.4767 15.58276512521749

launch time for April 08 is 19:57.5 UTC.

Mir 18 Mission Status Report #9 says:

>..., the next cargo supply ship for the Mir station, Progress 227, is
>scheduled to be launched on Sunday, April 9 at 22:30 Mir time (3:30 p.m. EDT)
>Docking to the Mir station is planned to take place on April 11 just before
>midnight Mir time (5 p.m. EDT).

3:30 p.m. EDT is 19:30 UTC, the ascending node passes 9.2 deg longitude
on April 9 at 19:34 UTC. This seems to be much more probable.

With a launch on April 09 19:34 UTC, Progress M-27 will leave the Earth's
shadow over Western Europe about 03:13.5 UTC, already in its transfer
orbit to Mir:

PROGRESS M-27                 4.5
1 xxxxxU        A 95 99.81522951  .000
2 xxxxx  51.60   140.8553 0000000   0.0000  58.9620 16.05424942

 Rainer  Apr 07
 
Received on Fri Apr 07 1995 - 21:08:17 UTC

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : Fri Mar 07 2014 - 00:14:10 UTC