wats@scicom.alphacdc.com (Bruce Watson) (03/15/88)
I don't know why Cable Network News comes up with these items during hours when I am semiconcious and then doesn't follow up at a decent hour, but: Apparently the Soviet Space shuttle is attached to an Energia which is on the pad and is almost ready for launch--weeks from now rather than months. Also the report said that their shuttle would be used only 2 or 3 times a year since it was not designed as an all purpose vehicle (no names, no flames), but for crew transfer. Anyone seen or read any more about this?
mcdowell@cfa250.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell) (03/16/88)
From article <1565@scicom.alphacdc.com>, by wats@scicom.alphacdc.com (Bruce Watson): > > > Apparently the Soviet Space shuttle is attached to an Energia > which is on the pad and is almost ready for launch--weeks from > now rather than months. > > Anyone seen or read any more about this? Radio Moscow a week ago quoted chief Shuttle pilot Igor Volk as saying that preparations for an unpiloted test launch of their shuttle were at an advanced stage; the implication seemed to be that it will be going in the next month or so. (Maybe Apr 12 which is the 27th anniversary of Gagarin's flight as well as the 7th anniversary of STS-1!) They'll probably fly it with a crew (Volk and Lefchenko?) late in the year or early next if all goes well; whats the betting Discovery will still be on the ground when it happens? Jonathan McDowell Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 mcdowell@cfa200.harvard.edu