Conference 7.286::space

    	Please see Topic 513.
    

    What I meant to say was when is the next shuttle mission going up?
    And I used the Columbia because it was to be the next mission. I
    don't know what the STS number for this one is
    

Columbia is scheduled for a DoD mission on July 31.  It is being mated (or
was just mated as we speak) to the ET and SRBs.

							Mike

From: [email protected] (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Space news from May 29 AW&ST
Date: 10 Jul 89 04:47:22 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
 
    NASA putting major efforts into getting Columbia ready for a
military launch July 31.  Since NASA has already eliminated one
planned DoD mission this year (originally in August) to clear the
decks for Galileo, it badly wants to keep the remaining military
launch on schedule.  There is a lot left to be done, since Columbia
had slipped badly behind in hardware updates applied to the other
orbiters.  Activity on Discovery and Atlantis has practically stopped
so the whole workforce can be put on Columbia. 
 
$10 million equals 18 PM       |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
(Pentagon-Minutes). -Tom Neff  | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [email protected]

    I've scanned the earlier DOD missions for information and I have
    some further questions perhaps you can help me with: (keep in mind
    we've never been down to the KSE)           
                                                          
    1. I have to chuckle at the openess of these "secret" missions...Well
    anyway the Mudgett nest of spys are (as I mentioned earlier) going
    to be there for this launch. Is July-31 still the best guess at
    when the Columbia will launch?                        
                                                          
    2. How can we figure out the time it will be taking off? They only
    give the time out publically 9 minutes before liftoff. (The Air
    Force probably wishes we had the Vandenburg site still.)
                                                          
    3. There are lots of notes that say where the best places to see
    the liftoff are these places valid for the DOD launches?
                                                          
    4. I had an idea that I'm sure someone has thought of before but
    I'll give it a try...Why can't we get into the KSE on somekind of
    a visitors pass when the launch is going to take place and go to
    the launch site and ask to use the bathroom?              
                                                              
    Thank you for any information you can give,
                
    Fred Mudgett

1.  They only transferred Columbia from the VAB to the pad on Saturday,
which was somewhat late.  Therefore, I would guess the launch would also
be late, although I may be wrong.

2.  They use the same pad for DOD missions, so the same locations ought to
be valid.  For spysats, they may use a more inclined orbit, so that may
influence what you see though.  I forget what is being alleged to be orbited
this time, though.  

3.  Ask to use the bathroom at the launch site?  You've got to be kidding.
Anyway, they close down the visitor's center on launch days.

Burns

Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle,sci.space
Subject: Launch advisory:  Launch date set for STS-28 (Forwarded)
Date: 26 Jul 89 22:51:05 GMT
Reply-To: [email protected] (Peter E. Yee)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
 
Sarah Keegan
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                      July 26, 1989
  
    LAUNCH ADVISORY:  LAUNCH DATE SET FOR STS-28 
 
     NASA officials, meeting at a Flight Readiness Review at Kennedy
Space Center, Fla., today set Aug. 8, 1989, as the launch date for
STS-28.  The launch period for the Department of Defense-dedicated
Space Shuttle mission will be from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. EDT.  This
schedule depends upon completion of work in progress and cooperative
weather allowing normal pad activities to continue uninterrupted. 

From: [email protected] (Jonathan McDowell)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: News of the Week, Jul 26
Date: 26 Jul 89 21:25:22 GMT
Organization: Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
 
Jonathan's Space Report
 
Jul 26, 1989 (no. 20)
 
Twenty years on ... 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
OV-102 Columbia is on the pad. The payload is a new imaging
recon satellite, presumably KH-12. (AvLeak, latest issue).
Mission STS-28 is due for early August.
 
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    Columbia is up.  Went off without a hitch, according to live launch
    reports on radio this morning.  Turned toward the northeast which
    indicates, according to the ABC reports, a spy satellite launching
    mission.