July 10, 2000. Copyright 2000. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

SUCCESS CRUCIAL FOR PIZZA-SPONSORED RUSSIAN LAUNCH

LONDON, July 10, Graphic News: THE FATE of the International Space Station rests on the scheduled launch this week of the 42,000 lb (19,000kg) Russian Zvezda living quarters, two years after it was scheduled to go into orbit.

But the long delay, caused by money problems in the cash-strapped Russian space programme, has not been all bad, according to U.S. space managers. The hold-up of the $50-billion program has enabled the former Cold War adversaries to share knowledge collected during more than four decades of space exploration.

ÒItÕs been very constructive for us because we have a rich history of spaceflight and operations, and the Russians have theirs,Ó said Mark Ferring, NASA flight director for the space station.

ÒWhatÕs happened over the last two years is the good parts of what weÕve learned, weÕve shared with our colleagues in Moscow and theyÕve done the same,Ó he said.

To be launched aboard a Russian Proton-K booster rocket -- emblazoned with the Pizza Hut logo -- the Zvezda service module will be placed in a parking orbit so the 35 metric tonne fledgling space station, a joint venture between Russia, the United States, Europe, Japan and Canada, can rendezvous and dock with it.

After launch, the 43 feet long by 14 feet diameter (13 metre long by 4.25 metre diameter) module will unfold solar arrays and manoeuvre into a higher 245 by 230-mile (394 by 370km) orbit, where two weeks of avionics tests and propulsion system burns by both the new service module and the two units already in orbit will then be commanded by the Russian TsUP (pronounced ÒsoupÓ) Flight Control Center near Moscow, to check out and position Zvezda for docking.

 The actual rendezvous, which includes 180-degree manoeuvres, will be executed in the blind by Russian software known as the ÒKursÓ system. This software, perfected during years of Progress and Soyuz missions with Mir, controls auto-rendezvous and docking while both vehicles are out of range of Russian TsUP ground stations.

If the planned July 12 launch is successful, the docking is scheduled for about 01:10 GMT on July 26 (03:10 CET or 21:10 EDT on July 25).

Once the units are docked they will form a new 116 feet long, 152,000 lb (35.4 metre long, 69,000kg) ISS configuration capable of being manned continuously, a key milestone in the 15 year program.

Originally scheduled for early 1998, the Zvezda is the first full Russian-funded element of the ISS and the third station element to be launched.

A successful launch and docking is essential to the assembly and early manning of the station. The service module carries the electrical, oxygen-generation, air and water-recycling, toilet, crew berth and food preparation systems necessary for a three-member crew to take up full-time residence in the space station.

The first ISS crew, U.S. astronaut Navy Captain Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev are scheduled to lift-off from Baikonur on a Soyuz in November or December.

If the Proton launch fails and the Service Module is lost, assembly of the ISS will be seriously disrupted, forcing the emergency launch next spring of a Naval Research Laboratory ÒInterim Control Module.Ó The ICM is not a habitable module but simply a propulsion system. Loss of the Zvezda would also delay initial manning well into 2001 or 2002, threatening political support for the station.

However, a successful docking will trigger plans at Baikonur and Kennedy Space Center for five key ISS missions.

At Baikonur, an unmanned Progress transport will blast off to the ISS three days after the link-up, to bring 4,000 lbs (1,814kg) of supplies to the station. At Kennedy, preparations will begin for the planned September 8 launch of Atlantis on STS-106 to the ISS to unload those supplies and conduct major Service Module outfitting.

 The Atlantis mission will be followed by another Progress from Baikonur, then Discovery from Kennedy by early October on STS-92 carrying crucial gyros for station attitude control. This is all to culminate in November or December with the launch from Baikonur of Expedition-1 -- the first ISS crew.

/ENDS

EDS Ð If the July 12 launch attempt fails there are back-up launch windows on July 14 and 16, and then again on alternate days from August 6-14.

Sources: NASA, Associated Press, Reuters, Aviation Week