Russia's Secret: Did Space Station Nearly Die The Day It Was Born?

In article ,
Derek Lyons wrote:
Should be an interesting story why NASA preferred to deal with NRL vice
Lockheed.

Might have had something to do with the fact that the NRL is a
govermental organization, and Lockheed isn't.

Based on what Aviation Leak said, the Bus 1 they originally looked at using
was hardware that already existed and was government (presumably NRO) owned,
not something Lockheed would have had to build. Possibly it was no longer
available for some reason by the time the ICM business came up.
--
MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well. |

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 16:22:07 -0600, Pat Flannery
wrote:



What's the straight poop on that thing anyway?
It's described a nuclear, cannon, and laser armed battle station over at
Encyclopedia Astronautica: http://www.astronautix.com/craft/polyus.htm
Was that really the case?


Aaarrr, that's quite an image, matey.

SCO delenda est.
adress is partially sdrawkcab.

Pat Flannery wrote


This probably gives the recon satellites the ability to change their
orbital parameters on-station; both to evade interception and to make
their time of passage over interesting photo targets less predictable.


Both the "KH-11-like" electro-optical and the Lacrosse radar imagers
have been tracked fairly closely for the past 15 years or so by the
amateur community. Neither kind maneuvers much after reaching the
operational orbit -- the Lacrosses hardly at all. The "KH-11s"
typically carry out small orbital maintenance maneuvers at intervals
of months(*) plus a larger orbit raising that seems to separate major
mission phases. Given warning, they could dodge a few times, but
at the expense of mission capability.

The classified LEO satellites that have shown significant propulsive
capability are the Titan-launched NOSS-2-A objects, now known to be
TLDs hosting SLDCOM and COBRA BRASS payloads, and USA 53 and USA 144.
There's a fair chance that USA 53 was a stealthified KH-11, so Bus 1
is a good candidate for its propulsion package. USA 144 is a
considerable puzzle, but may be a successor to USA 53.


(*) The maneuver times are quite predictable, BTW. They occur on an
ascending node when the perigee drops below a certain value and the
argument of perigee precesses through zero.

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

From the article:
"The module was the FGB, Russian for “Functional Cargo Block,”

More accurately, it seems, "****in' Crappy Block".
--
If you have had problems with Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC),
please contact shredder at bellsouth dot net. There may be a class-action
lawsuit
in the works.

What's with the Russian hardware bashing this week? FGB is now 5 years
old, and seems to be doing just fine. It came in on time, under
budget. What more could you possibly want?

Speaking of the Russians, if it were not for them, ISS would be
abandoned, if not in the ocean.



"Scott Hedrick" wrote in message .. .
"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

From the article:
"The module was the FGB, Russian for ?Functional Cargo Block,?

More accurately, it seems, "****in' Crappy Block".