Hello All The fact that manoeuvres by Salyut 7 and Mir were used to minimise Soyuz T-15's fuel consumption was 'well known' at the time (at least by those of us who were tracking them). Being pre-internet, it's one of those memories that have faded from the collective conscience because it was only set down in peoples' private observation logs and the odd narrowly-circulated journal. Prior to the transfer from Mir to Salyut, from recollection, there was a period when two stations kept a distance from each other. Our assumption was that the separation ensured that only one station could be above the horizon at any time. This would avoid radio inteference because they were operating at some common frequencies. Marcia Smith wrote detailed descriptions of the manoeuvres involved in both inter-station journeys in Part 1 of the US Senate Report "Soviet Space Programs: 1981-1987" (pages 70-75). It was published May 1988. Here are summaries of the visible passes from Lincoln, UK at the time of Soyuz T-15's journey back from Salyut 7 to Mir. The one on Jun 26 should be read in conjunction with Ted's report timed four hours later (see note at bottom of this mail): 1986 Jun 25 MIR noted (mag 0) at 2238 UTC - track SW-SE, SALYUT 7 (also mag 0) was two minutes behind - identification based on Doppler shifted radio signal, SOYUZ T-15 was leading SALYUT 7 by 4.5 seconds in time and was slightly lower in elevation (about 30 km distance). 1986 Jun 26 Seen between 22:50 and 22:55 UTC - track W-SE, two objects, both mag 0, separated by about 30 seconds of time - approx 200 km (Soyuz now docked with Mir). [Hindsight - Salyut 7 was probably the leader] 1986 Jun 27 Approx 21:40 - low in SE, MIR (mag -0.5) was 2 minutes behind SALYUT 7 (mag 0). Approx 23:15 - high in S, MIR measured as 4 minutes behind SALYUT 7. [NOTE - the difference in time separation between the two observations above is maybe a perspective effect due to the low elevation of the first observation, four minutes is the better measurement] 1986 Jun 29 Timed at 22:20:00 and 22:32:35 respectively as they bisected the line between Altair and Vega, MIR was 12.6 minutes behind SALYUT 7. 1986 Jul 1 Separation now 20 minutes. Bob Christy On 11/03/2011 06:57, Ted Molczan wrote: > ..............I managed to get home from the > airport just in time to drop my suitcase and invite a neighbour to join me on the roof of my apartment building to observe. We > spotted Mir first, rising in the west (June 26, 02:56 UTC). Several minutes later, we spotted Salyut 7 in the west, and as it became > better illuminated we easily spotted the Soyuz leading Salyut 7 by something like 10 s in time. > > Ted Molczan > _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l
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