biro@pipa.DEC (02/28/86)
MIR UPDATE From the NASA element set I calculated the APOGEE and PERIGEE of MIR (old and new) and SALYUT_7. One can see that MIR has had successful correction of both the APOGEE and PERIGEE in the three days or so and it does look like a rendezvous trajectory with SALYUT_7 or the Large Cosmos 1686 module that has been attached to SALYUT_7. I think the rough dimensions of SALYUT_7 is about 23 Meters long and dia. about 4 Meters. This would makes its internal volume about 100 cubic meters, an its weight at about 26,000 Kg, based on the dimensions of SALYUT_6. Aviation Week stated that MIR was launch by Proton booster,So I would assume that MIR is in simular in size and weight. SPACECRAFT MIR MIR SALYUT_7 ELEMENT SET 2 15 48 DAY of 1986 52.124 55.963 50.750 APOGEE KM 293.363 338.759 348.988 PERIGEE KM 171.361 324.338 346.401 INCLINATION 51.613 51.614 51.627 Also several people have asked about a good reference source for Soviet Space Programs. The U.S. Government Printing Office has 3 good books that they sell. SOVIET SPACE PROGRAMS: PART 1. dealing with launch vehicles and sites and goals PART 2. Manned Space Programs and Space Life Sciences PART 3. Unmanned space activities Part 1 is out of print, Part 2 was advable when I got my copy about a year ago, and Part 3 at that time was not yet advable. john
hammen@puff.UUCP (Zaphod Beeblebrox) (03/03/86)
In article <1426@decwrl.DEC.COM>, biro@pipa.DEC writes: > > ....... > > Also several people have asked about a good reference source for > Soviet Space Programs. The U.S. Government Printing Office has > 3 good books that they sell. > > SOVIET SPACE PROGRAMS: > PART 1. dealing with launch vehicles and sites and goals > PART 2. Manned Space Programs and Space Life Sciences > PART 3. Unmanned space activities > > Part 1 is out of print, Part 2 was advable when I got my copy > about a year ago, and Part 3 at that time was not yet advable. > > john Another excellent source of information are the books by James Oberg, 'Red Star In Orbit' and 'The New Race For Space.' Oberg is a NASA employee who works one of the consoles at the Johnson Space Center. He provides detailed pictures, evidence and descriptions of the Soviet space program. Some of his material may be flawed, but I generally find it better reading (not necessarily more factual) than the US government books. There are a couple of older books, 'The Kremlin and the Kosmos', by Nicholas Daniloff, and 'The Russian Space Bluff' by some Russian defector I can't remember. There are also books by Peter Smolders and Evgeny Riabchenkov (sp?) which are again rather old (10-15 yrs.) but nonetheless interesting. Robert J. Hammen {seismo,allegra,ihnp4}!uwvax!puff!hammen U. of Wisc. CS Dept. !gumby!hammen U. of Wisc. Plasma Physics Dept. hammen@puff.wisc.edu Manta Software Corp. hammen@gumby.wisc.edu MAIL: 45 N. Orchard St. Madison WI 53715 AT&T: (608)251-2846