April-May 1981:milestones

March 1981

1 West German private company, OTRAG, launches single-stage rocket built on the modular principle from Libya. The site is located near Seba Oasis, some 500 miles (800 km) south of Tripoli. This was the fourth launching by the German company, three others having been made from Zaire. OTRAG are preparing to market a 4-module nitric acid/kerosene sounding rocket developing 12,000 kg thrust capable of lifting 100-400 kg payloads to 80-230 km altitude. A three-stage satellite launcher is being prepared for test in 1982-83.

2 British Aerospace and Plessey announce agreement to collaborate on defence communications satellites, the former supplying the spacecraft and the latter providing project support and ground terminals. BAe and Marconi are competing for the contract to develop the satellite which will replace Skynet IIB.

7 Martin Marietta at KSC begins 13-day programme to repair insulation of External Tank of Space Shuttle “Columbia” before maiden flight planned for the second or third week of April. Insulation became detached in two places during propellant loading trials in late January/early February. Work is being done on the launch pad using special work platforms.

12 Marconi Communications Systems announces contract worth nearly £5 million to convert British Telecom satellite Earth terminal, Goonhilly 4, for use as a Standard C terminal with Intelsat 5, the new generation of operational communications satellites. Goonhilly 4 was originally built by Marconi in 1978 as an experimental station to be used by British Telecom to provide the technology involved in operating in the 14/11 GHz frequency band, working with OTS.

12 Soviets launch Soyuz T-4 spacecraft from Tyuratam-Baikonur cosmodrome at 2200 hr (Moscow time) with Col. Vladimir Kovalyonok and flight engineer Viktor Savinykh (who becomes world’s 100th space traveller). Launch celebrates Yuri Gagarin's pioneer space flight one month before the 20th anniversary of that flight on 12 April 1961. Apart from 50 earlier Soviet cosmonauts, there have been 43 Americans and seven others - from Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Cuba and Vietnam. Other missions planned include a Mongolian and a Romanian.

13 Soyuz T-4 docks with Salyut 6/Progress 12 complex on forward airlock. Planned programme includes repair and maintenance, scientific experiments. Important results are being obtained particularly in surveying the Earth’s natural resources. Space factory experiments carried out on board Salyut 6 are also yielding important results.