Significant events in the exploration of space this year included the manned flights of the U.S. space shuttle Challenger, the scientific research conducted from the Soviet space station Salyut, and the two Soviet probes sent to explore Venus.
UNITED STATES
By late 1983 the United States had launched some 30 spacecraft since the beginning of the year. These included flights by space shuttle orbiters, meteorological satellites, a scientific satellite, and numerous communications satellites. Many of the U.S. satellites launched in previous years were still operational and continued to provide technological and scientific information.
Manned space flights.
The maiden flight of the new space shuttle Challenger and the sixth shuttle flight overall began on April 4 when the craft was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew consisted of Paul J. Weitz, commander, Karol J. Bobko, pilot, and Donald H. Peterson and F. Story Musgrave, mission specialists. The first in a series of tracking and data relay satellites (TDRS-A) was launched from the shuttle, but as a result of a malfunction of its booster rocket, TDRS-A did not achieve geosynchronous orbit as planned. (However, ground controllers using the satellite?s attitude control thrusters?which are small steering rockets?were able to move the satellite from its lower orbit into its proper geosynchronous orbit on June 29, some months after the launch.) The satellite malfunction was the only mishap on an otherwise highly successful mission. On the fourth day of the flight, astronauts Musgrave and Peterson donned new space suits, left the main cabin, and moved about the cargo bay as the Challenger orbited 150 miles above the earth. It was the first extravehicular activity performed by U.S. astronauts since the EVA from Skylab in 1974. Three Getaway Special payloads (small canisters that carry low-cost research experiments) were in the cargo bay. One contained many species of seeds, to be exposed to two different types of space environment to study the effects of travel in space on seed growth. In the second canister were five materials-processing experiments and one biology experiment prepared by U.S. Air Force cadets. The third canister, prepared by Japan, was designed to make artificial snow crystals in zero gravity. In a guided reentry, the Challenger made a pinpoint landing on a concrete runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California on the morning of April 9. Its overall performance was better than the first flight of the first shuttle, the Columbia, in 1981.
The Challenger?s second flight began on June 18. The space shuttle crew consisted of Robert L. Crippen, commander, Frederick H. Hauck, pilot, and John M. Fabian, Sally K. Ride, and Norman E. Thagard, mission specialists. Ride, an astrophysicist, was the first American woman astronaut. (Two Soviet women have traveled in space.) In addition, the five-member crew was the largest on a shuttle mission. Two communications satellites were launched from the shuttle by the mission specialists. The first, on June 18, was a Canadian Anik C-2 satellite; the second, on June 19, was an Indonesian Palapa B-1 satellite. Both of these were successfully placed into geosynchronous orbit. Hardware and experiments from several nations were employed on this mission. The West German shuttle pallet satellite (SPAS), a platform designed to hold various instruments, was deployed from the shuttle on June 22 and later that day retrieved using the shuttle?s 50-foot-long Canadian-built mechanical arm. The successful performance of this task was significant because on future missions, astronauts will attempt to retrieve orbiting satellites and bring them into the cargo bay for repairs or refueling or for transport back to earth. During deployment of the SPAS platform, the Challenger was maneuvered to fly in formation with the platform, and pictures of the Challenger were taken from cameras on the SPAS. Seven Getaway Special payloads, as well as other payloads carried on the SPAS, were taken into space on this mission, including materials-processing experiments. The Challenger was scheduled to make the first shuttle landing at Florida?s Kennedy Space Center, but because of bad weather the site was shifted to Edwards Air Force Base. The Challenger thus made an additional orbit and landed on the lake bed runway at Edwards on June 24.
The first night launch of the space shuttle took place when the third flight of the Challenger lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center shortly after 2:30 A.M. on August 30. The shuttle?s crew members were Richard H. Truly, commander, Daniel C. Brandenstein, pilot, and Guion S. Bluford, Jr., William E. Thornton, and Dale A. Gardner, mission specialists. Bluford had the distinction of being the first black U.S. astronaut. The Indian communications and meteorological satellite Insat 1-B was launched from the shuttle and placed in geosynchronous orbit over the Indian Ocean on September 1. However, its solar panels failed to open fully, and only partial power was available to the satellite. The astronauts were successful in communicating to the ground via the TDRS-A satellite. In addition, the mechanical arm was tested again; it moved a 7,460-pound load (a dummy spacecraft), nearly twice the mass and bulk of previous payloads, in and out of the cargo bay. Experiments involving the processing of living cells were conducted during this mission. There were also 24 Getaway Special payloads; three involved scientific research on the effects of cosmic rays, atomic oxygen, and a gaseous environment on experiments in space, and one was the continuation of the artificial snow crystal experiment carried on the sixth shuttle mission. The first night reentry and landing was completed when the Challenger touched down at Edwards Air Force Base early on September 5.
The space shuttle Columbia was modified this year to carry the Spacelab, a joint project of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the European Space Agency. The Columbia was scheduled to make its sixth and last flight into space in late October. NASA officials postponed the mission, however, when it became apparent that a potential problem with a rocket nozzle?on the third Challenger flight a rocket nozzle lining had almost burned through?would not be resolved in time to meet the October date. The launch took place on November 28.
The first prototype of the space shuttle, the Enterprise, mounted atop its Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, toured many major cities in the United States and Europe; the craft was en route to and from the Paris Air Show, where it was displayed.
Planetary probes.
The space probes launched by the United States have all completed their primary missions, but some continue to provide new data as they head into deeper space. Pioneer 10 departed the solar system on June 13 when it passed across the orbit of Neptune more than 11 years after its launch on March 2, 1972. Its distance from the sun this June 13 was 2.81 billion miles, and its transmissions took over four hours to reach the earth. Pioneer 10 was still relaying data on the solar wind, and it has expanded the distance at which that phenomenon is known to exist. One of Pioneer 10?s remaining tasks was to determine how far solar winds extend and what happens when these winds interact with the interstellar medium. Another important job was the search for a possible tenth planet?a presence suggested by irregularities in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.
Scientific instruments on Voyager 2 continued to monitor the interplanetary environments. The craft was on a trajectory that is expected to carry it past Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989.
Scientific satellite.
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) was launched into a near polar orbit on January 25 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The satellite was a joint project of NASA and agencies of the Netherlands and Great Britain. Designed to collect comprehensive data on sources of infrared radiation in space, it was able to sense spatial bodies that were previously undetectable. IRAS made two complete surveys of the sky at infrared wavelengths between 8 and 120 micrometers. Analysis of data was expected to take several months, and a catalog of sources was not scheduled to appear until the latter half of 1984. Two new comets discovered by IRAS in the spring were later confirmed by ground observations, and in August possible evidence of a new solar system in the making around the star Vega was announced. In addition, a ring of infrared emissions about 30,000 light-years from the center of the Andromeda galaxy was detected, and other comets and many galaxies bright in the infrared were observed. IRAS also spotted a giant dust ring beyond the orbit of Mars.
Meteorological satellites.
An environmental monitoring satellite, NOAA-8, was launched in late March. The satellite carries instruments to remotely determine surface temperatures, measure upper atmospheric temperatures, and determine the vertical temperature profile of the atmosphere. NOAA-8 is also used to gather data from balloons, buoys, and remote weather stations. In addition, a new function of this NOAA satellite is to provide coverage for the so-called Sarsat-Cospas network. This is a joint space-based search and rescue system of the United States, France, Canada, and the Soviet Union. The system is intended to pinpoint the location of emergency beacons carried on aircraft and ships. Two Soviet satellites, Cosmos 1383 and Cosmos 1447, also provide satellite coverage for this purpose. NASA reported that in the space of only a few months this summer, the Sarsat-Cospas network saved 60 lives.
GOES-6, one of a series of geostationary operational environment satellites, was placed into earth-synchronous orbit in April. There are now three orbiting GOES craft operated by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to provide visual and infrared imagery and other data to monitor the earth?s weather and its resources, as well as some solar activity. One of the satellites was used to track Hurricane Alicia in the Gulf of Mexico in August.
Technological satellites.
The Landsat satellites continue to provide coverage of every portion of the earth?s surface to support investigations by both U.S. and foreign scientists in such areas as agriculture, forestry, and mineral and maritime resources. However, multiple failures on the Landsat 4 (launched in 1982), including problems with its thematic mapper (an advanced scanner), have drastically decreased this worldwide coverage. The TDRS-A will be used to relay some data from Landsat 4, but full operation cannot be restored until the Landsat is retrieved and repaired in space by shuttle astronauts, which is scheduled to occur within the next few years. Analysis of data from the Landsat and Seasat satellites have led to a detailed mapping of the ocean bottom, the discovery of new land and sea features, and the location of mineral resources in remote areas.
Communications satellites.
In addition to the communications satellites launched from the space shuttle, NASA launched several from the Kennedy Space Center. These included new Intelsat satellites to replace older ones in geosynchronous orbit over the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans; the Intelsat satellites are used by the U.S.-based Communications Satellite Corporation (Comsat) and by communications organizations in other countries. Also, commercial communications satellites were launched for the RCA Corporation and for Hughes Galaxies Inc.
SOVIET UNION
By late in the year, approximately 100 spacecraft had been launched by the Soviet Union in 1983. These included many unmanned earth-orbital missions in the Cosmos series, which have a variety of purposes including reconnaissance, the establishment of communications systems for military use, and research. In addition, two manned Soyuz spacecraft, two Progress resupply spacecraft, two space probes, and scientific satellites and communications satellites were launched.
Space station.
Cosmonauts Anatoly Berezovoy and Valentin Lebedev returned to earth from the Salyut 7 space station on December 10, 1982, after spending a record 211 days in space. Berezovoy and Lebedev traveled from the space station in the Soyuz T-7. Their landing was made at night in a windy snowstorm with reported low visibility and temperatures near 0?F at a landing site some 120 miles east of the town of D?hezkazgan. Because of the bad weather, recovery helicopters were unable to operate, and it was close to an hour before ground personnel arrived at the site.
The Progress 16 resupply spacecraft was undocked from the Salyut 7 space station on December 13, 1982; it was commanded into a destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean. The Korund materials-processing furnace on the space station was left in an automatic mode to process materials that were retrieved later.
On March 10, the Soviets nearly doubled the size of the space station by docking the module Cosmos 1443 with Salyut 7. Cosmos 1443 was described by the Soviets as a space station tug and electric power module with a bell-shaped reentry vehicle. This unmanned vehicle is capable of returning 1,100 pounds of cargo back to earth for a water recovery. It will apparently be used to transport to earth research materials, failed equipment, and bulk products manufactured in zero gravity. The module has about 430 square feet of solar array that provide about three kilowatts of electrical power. Cosmos 1443 delivered about three tons of cargo and propellants to the space station, about 2? times the amount delivered by the Progress resupply spacecraft. The module also has about 1,765 cubic feet of habitable space that add to the total work area of the space station.
Soyuz T-8, with cosmonauts Vladimir G. Titov, commander, and Gennady M. Strekalov and Alexander Serebrov, was launched on April 20. As a result of a malfunction the rendezvous radar, to be used in docking with Salyut 7, did not fully deploy. The spacecraft was maneuvered in an attempt to swing the antenna into position, but the maneuver did not succeed. Permission was then granted for the cosmonauts to attempt a rendezvous with Salyut 7 using only optical sight and ground radar for guidance. The Soyuz T-8 was maneuvered to within about 500 feet of the space station, but it was forced to abort the docking because of darkness and the lack of ranging data. Soyuz T-8 reentered the earth?s atmosphere and made a normal landing on April 22.
The Soyuz T-9 spacecraft, with cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov, commander, and Aleksandr Aleksandrov, flight engineer, was launched on June 27 and docked with the Salyut 7 space station the next day. In mid-August the space tug Cosmos 1443 was undocked from the space station, and the Soyuz T-9 was moved to the forward docking port. This was done so that the resupply spacecraft Progress 17, which was launched on August 17, could dock at the aft-end of the station and deliver its cargo of fuel and supplies. The Soyuz T-9 cosmonauts loaded 700 pounds of materials, including exposed film and spent hardware, onto the Cosmos 1443?s reentry vehicle, which returned to earth on August 23.
On September 27 a rocket carrying another Soyuz T transport craft exploded on its launch pad in Asia. The two cosmonauts on board were reportedly not killed. The Soviet Union subsequently launched the unmanned space freighter Progress 18 to carry supplies to Salyut 7.
Space probes.
Two space probes?Venera 15 and 16?were launched by the Soviets in June on a trajectory toward the planet Venus, which they reached and began orbiting in October. The Venera craft, equipped with radar systems to map the planet, began returning the first high-resolution images of Venus?s surface ever obtained through the planet?s cloud cover. The images revealed deep chasms and Himalayan-type mountain structures.
Scientific satellites.
Several of the Cosmos satellites launched this year carried experiments dealing with particles, fields, and radiation in the upper atmosphere, the magnetosphere, and interplanetary space. Astron, a Venera-class spacecraft modified for use in earth orbital missions, was launched by the Soviets on March 23 and placed into a highly eccentric orbit. It carried a non-imaging ultraviolet telescope with a spectral range of 1,100-3,600 angstroms. The telescope, built in cooperation with French scientists, has more than three times the light-gathering power of the International Ultraviolet Explorer. It also carries X-ray spectrometers. Prognoz 9, a solar magnetospheric research satellite, was launched by the Soviets on July 1. It carries solar activity experiments from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Sweden, as well as the Soviet Union.
Meteorological satellites.
Meteorological satellites in the Meteor series continue to be launched to replace others which have become inoperative. One such satellite was launched on December 2, 1982. These satellites carry systems for obtaining images of clouds and of the earth?s surface in the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum and for making quantitative measurements of components of the earth?s radiation on a planetary scale. The information received is used by the Soviet weather service and disseminated to other countries for their use.
Communications satellites.
Communications satellites in the Molniya 1 series, the Molniya 3 series, and the Raduga series were launched this year. Also, a domestic communications satellite in the Horizont series was launched on July 1. These satellites carried relays for the transmission of telephone and telegraph communications and for transmitting television programs. One domestic relay radio telecommunications satellite in the Ekran series was launched on March 17, and one satellite in the Iskra series, which provide radio amateurs with spaceborne radio links, was launched on November 18, 1982.
OTHER NATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
On June 16, the European Space Agency (ESA), using the Ariane launch vehicle, successfully launched the European communications satellite ECS-1 and the radio amateur satellite Oscar 10 (Oscar stands for orbiting satellite carrying amateur radio). However, the Oscar 10 did not achieve its intended orbit after it was apparently struck from behind by the third stage of the rocket that had placed it in orbit. It therefore provided only one-fourth of its planned communications services. Earlier, in May, the ESA X-ray observatory satellite Exosat was launched by NASA and placed in a highly eccentric polar orbit. The satellite carries two imaging telescopes that began providing very specific information on cosmic X-ray sources in the volt range of 0.04-2.0 kiloelectrons. Exosat data will be used to make detailed analyses of known X-ray sources in the solar system and deep space. The satellite has a planned operational life of two years, but it carries enough power to work for four years.
A Japanese X-ray satellite called Tenma was launched and successfully placed in orbit on February 20. It carries three X-ray detectors, a gamma-ray burst sensor, and a radiation-belt monitor, which are collecting data from X-ray stars in our galaxy and other X-ray galaxies. Two communications satellites were also launched by Japan in 1983. India launched Rohini on April 17, and China launched a scientific satellite on August 19.
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