Muses B launched
Allen Thomson (thomsona@netcom.com)
Wed, 12 Feb 1997 06:27:25 -0800
TOKYO, Feb. 12 1997(UPI)
[EXCERPTS]
Japan has launched a radio telescope satellite into orbit with
the world's largest solid-fuel rocket, the Education
Ministry's Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science says.
The rocket lifted off at 1:58 p.m., about eight minutes behind
scheule, from a launch pad in the town of Uchinoura (``oo'cheeNOH'ohOOra
``), on Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island.
The 830-kilogram (1,830 pound) Muses-B satellite separated from the
rocket and was put into elliptical orbit around the Earth.
The satellite was placed in orbit with an apogee height of 20,000
kilometers (12,427 miles) and a perigee height of 1,000 km (621 miles)
to observe radio sources such as quasars and masers.