Proton to resume flights in March, Zvezda launch pushed to summer, Mir still in limbo.
The commission investigating the October 27 crash of a Proton rocket in Kazakhstan has completed its study and the official results are said to be expected within the next week, according to the Russian Aerospace Agency (RASA).
According to Konstantin Kreidenko, a RASA spokesman, the first Proton launch can take place at the beginning of March 2000. The rocket will most likely carry a payload for the Russian federal space program.
At least three successful Proton launches have to be carried out before the vehicle can be used to deliver into the orbit the Zvezda module, the crucial element of the International Space Station, Kreidenko said.
Yuri Grigoriev, the deputy president of RKK Energia, the major Russian contractor in the ISS project, estimated that the Zvezda launch would not take place until the summer of 2000.
The delay of the Zvezda launch means that the Zarya and Unity modules, two parts of the ISS already in orbit, will not have refueling capability until Zvezda arrives.
Russia's Progress cargo ships, designed to deliver fuel to the ISS, need to dock with the Zvezda module, to refuel the station and boost its orbit. Earlier estimates by NASA indicated that the Zarya/Unity combination would be able to maintain a safe orbit without refueling until April 2000.
Grigoriev said that the ISS elements are not in danger of re-entering the atmosphere since they can be pushed into a higher orbit by the space shuttle. The next shuttle mission to the space station, STS-101, is scheduled to launch on March 16, 2000.
Before Zvezda is launched and docked to the rest of the ISS, Russian ground control specialists would like to have the Altair relay satellite in place.
The Altair spacecraft is to be launched into a geostationary orbit where it will provide reliable communications during crucial docking between Zvezda and the rest of the ISS.
RASA confirmed Monday that the Altair spacecraft is on the list of payloads to be launched on a Proton rocket before the Zvezda module's launch.
According to Sergei Zhiltsov, the spokesman for Khrunichev Enterprise, the company which manufactures the Proton vehicle, the first payload carried into space by Proton could either be an Ekran communications satellite for the Russian federal space program, or a group of GLONASS navigation satellites. The GLONASS spacecraft are similar to the United States' Global Positioning System.
A Garuda communications satellite is also on the top of the Proton flight manifest. However, its launch date will depend on the readiness of the payloads for the Russian federal space program. Currently RASA and Russian Ministry of Defense operate two launch complexes for Proton rockets at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Each has two launch pads.
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