Word: orbital
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...foot long AXAF will travel into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle to an altitude of about 288 miles, where the high resolution x-ray telescope will orbit the earth. Its highly sensitive eye will include instruments for detection and spectral analysis...
After ten months in orbit, however, Solar Max blew three critical fuses. The failure impaired its ability to keep properly turned toward the sun, left it wobbling like a top, and triggered breakdowns in its battery of instruments. The $325 million Solar Max program seemed moribund...
...tinkering fails, the astronauts will strip Solar Max of its cumbersome solar panels, lay it on its side in the cargo bay and carry it back down to the ground for an overhaul.) By then, Challenger will have climbed to an altitude of 270 miles. The higher orbit will reduce the effect of atmospheric braking and extend the satellite's lifetime until at least 1989, or possibly even into the early 1990s, when the sun again erupts. For the next eight hours, the shuttle will hover near by while ground controllers make a final check on Solar...
...first time, the delta-winged spacecraft will climb directly into orbit with only one intermediate firing by its orbital maneuvering engines. A steeper ascent, made possible by improvements in engine thrust, will save fuel, which may be needed for the rendezvous maneuvers with Solar Max. Once it is 245 miles high, the shuttle will use its remote-controlled mechanical arm for another first: the deployment of a 30-ft.-long cylindrical package, called the long-duration exposure facility (LDEF), which contains 57 separate scientific experiments contributed by nearly 200 scientists in nine countries. LDEF will be left in orbit...
...Cape Canaveral. The exact mission will be top secret, as will all shuttle flights from Air Force-run Vandenberg, but it has been reported that the main job on that first flight will be to ferry two satellites into space. Since Discovery will be placed in a polar orbit, its ground track will cover the Soviet Union. One of those satellites could be a new hush-hush communications package, and the other a device equipped with infrared sensors to spot Soviet missile launches. -ByAnastasia Toufexis. Reported by William R. Doerner/Vandenberg Air Force Base...