October 1981:milestones

May 1981

23 The second Intelsat V comsat is launched by Atlas-Centaur. It will be in the main link over the Atlantic because the first Intelsat V, launched 6 December last year, is having hardware problems.

31 India launches her second satellite into a 364 x 181 km orbit. The 84 lb craft enters a 834 x 296 km orbit and the low perigee leads to reentry on 8 June.

31 An object is observed to separate from Salyut 6. Analysts believe it may be the orbital module of Soyuz T-4 (which left on 26 May).

June 1981

1 Contract begin date for work by Convair on converting the Centaur upper stage for use aboard the Shuttle. There are some doubts, however, being expressed in Congress about using Centaur at all.

16 Explorer 55 reenters after 5 years of probing the upper atmosphere.

19 Ariane L03 is successfuly launched from Kourou at 12.33 GMT and takes three satellites into a 201 x 36,207 km orbit. Meteosat 2 (an ESA weather satellite) fires its apogee motor on 20 June, followed by Apple (an Indian comsat) on 21 June, to enter geostationary orbit. Preliminiary examination of launch data shows no problems. Ariane L04 is scheduled for November.

19 Cosmos 1267, launched on 24 April by a Proton rocket, docks with Salyut 6 in a 332 x 360 km orbit. The new vehicle, described as “a prototype space module” by cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov, nearly doubles the size of the space station and is an important step towards building permanent orbital bases. On 30 June engines aboard the new module fire to raise the orbit to 339 x 386 km.

25 ESA’s Council, the body which formulates ESA policy and rules in scientific,technical, administrative and financial matters, elects Prof. Hubert Curien (France) as its Chairman.

30 The Shuttle External Tank is mated with the stacked Solid Rocket Boosters on the mobile launch platform in the VAB for STS-2.

July 1981

1 The OSTA-1 payload for Columbia's second mission is inserted into the cargo bay.