Decay of Soyuz rocket and debris

Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Fri, 8 Aug 1997 20:00:04 +0100

There were no further elsets for the Soyuz C object (#24888 = 97- 38 C)
so yesterdays estimate that it decayed at about August 7.69 still
stands.

What I assume to be the final OIG elset for the rocket is:
Soyuz TM-26 r                                    137 x 124 km
1 24887U 97038B   97220.57925646  .41560137  12671-4  26332-3 0   224
2 24887  51.6127 181.7271 0010058 230.2547 130.0191 16.53248678   484
This shows it 17 seconds late against my prediction of yesterday at the
beginning of what must have been its final orbit; it had been only 6
seconds late at the previous equator crossing. I suspect decay was at
about August 8.61 (14:40 UTC).

Alan
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