Chronology - Quarter 2 2005
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2005 April 11 - 13:35 GMT - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: CLF. Launch Pad: CLF. Launch Vehicle: Minotaur. Model: Minotaur 1.
  • USA 165 Nation: USA. Payload: XSS-11. Mass: 145 kg (319 lb). Class: Technology. Type: Rendezvous. Spacecraft: XSS. Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin Space Systems. Agency: USAF Research Laboratory. Perigee: 840 km (520 mi). Apogee: 872 km (541 mi). Inclination: 98.80 deg. Period: 102.10 min. COSPAR: 2005-011A. USAF Sat Cat: 28636. Delayed from November 9, 2004; January 19, March 18, 2005. Military Autonomous Rendezvous Technology. It tested navigation technologies for rendezvous that directly measured relative position to the target satellite. It was have to rendezvoused with several defunct American satellites. However it was only known to have conducted operations with its own Minotaur upper stage
2005 April 12 - 12:00 GMT - Launch Site: Xichang. Launch Complex: LC2. Launch Pad: LC2. Launch Vehicle: CZ-3B.
  • APSTAR 6 Nation: China. Payload: Apstar 5B / Spacebus 4000C2. Mass: 4,680 kg (10,310 lb). Class: Communications. Spacecraft: Spacebus 4000. Agency: APT Satellite. Perigee: 256 km (159 mi). Apogee: 49,629 km (30,837 mi). Inclination: 26.00 deg. Period: 919.40 min. COSPAR: 2005-012A. USAF Sat Cat: 28638. Delayed from November, December 4, 2004. Ku and C band transponders. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 133.99E drifting at 0.013W degrees per day.
2005 April 15 - 00:45 GMT - Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz FG. LV Configuration: Soyuz FG s/n 014 / ISS-10S.
  • Soyuz TMA-6 Nation: Russia. Program: ISS. Payload: Soyuz TMA s/n 216. Mass: 7,250 kg (15,980 lb). Class: Manned. Type: Spacecraft. Spacecraft: Soyuz TMA. Perigee: 350 km (210 mi). Apogee: 360 km (220 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.60 min. COSPAR: 2005-013A. USAF Sat Cat: 28640. Decay Date: 2005-10-11. Crew: Krikalyov, Phillips, Vittori. Flight: ISS EO-11, ISS EP-8, ISS EO-10. The Soyuz TMA-6 docked with International Space Station's Pirs module at 02:20 GMT on April 17. Commander of the long-duration EO-11 crew was Russian cosmonaut Sergey Krikalyov. Flight engineer and science officer was American astronaut John Phillips. Italian Roberto Vittori accompanied the EO-10 crew aboard Soyuz TMA-6 to the station on the European Space Agency EP-8 Eneide mission.
2005 April 15 - 17:26 GMT - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Pegasus XL.
  • DART Nation: USA. Mass: 360 kg (790 lb). Class: Technology. Type: Rendezvous. Spacecraft: DART. Manufacturer: Orbital Sciences. Agency: NASA. Perigee: 395 km (245 mi). Apogee: 747 km (464 mi). Inclination: 96.60 deg. Period: 96.10 min. COSPAR: 2005-014A. USAF Sat Cat: 28642. Delayed from April 15; October 18, 19, 26, 28; Nov. 4, 9 and 11; 2004, and March 2, 2005. Autonomous Rendezvous Technology mission, planned to guide itself to within a few metres of a US satellite. On April 16, DART closed within 100 m of the MUBLCOM satellite, then evidently began a series of out-of-control maneuvers resulting in an in-space collission and MUBLCOM being bumped into a 3 to 5 km higher orbit. Remarkably both satellites continued to function. DART then detected that it was running unexpectedly low on nitrogen cold gas used for orientation. Its autonomous software aborted further rendezvous operations and the DART was deorbited shortly thereafter.
2005 April 16 -
  • Cassini, Titan Flyby, Successful Spacecraft: Cassini.
2005 April 24 -
  • Landing of Soyuz TMA-5 Nation: Russia. Program: ISS. Flight: ISS EO-10, ISS EO-11, ISS EP-8. The EO-10 crew, having handed over the ISS to EO-11, boarded Soyuz TMA-5 together with EP-8 astronaut Vittori. They undocked from the ISS Zarya module at 18:45 GMT, made retrofire on schedule at 21:17, and landed on muddy ground at 51 deg 03" N / 67 deg 18" E at 22:07
2005 April 26 - 07:31 GMT - Launch Site: Kiritimati. Launch Complex: Odyssey. Launch Vehicle: Zenit-3SL. LV Configuration: Zenit 3SL s/n 15.
  • Spaceway 1 Nation: USA. Program: DirecTV. Mass: 6,080 kg (13,400 lb). Class: Communications. Spacecraft: HS 702. Manufacturer: Boeing Satellite Systems. Agency: DirecTV. Perigee: 35,785 km (22,235 mi). Apogee: 35,789 km (22,238 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min. COSPAR: 2005-015A. USAF Sat Cat: 28644. Heaviest single payload to geosynchronous transfer orbit to that date. Carried 48 high-frequency Ka-band transponders for data transmission and television broadcasting. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 102.80W drifting at 0.005W degrees per day.
2005 April 30 - 00:50 GMT - Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Titan 4B. Model: Titan 403B. LV Configuration: Titan 403B B-30.
  • USA 182 Nation: USA. Mass: 14,500 kg (31,900 lb). Class: Surveillance. Type: Radarsat. Spacecraft: Lacrosse. Agency: National Reconnaissance Office. Perigee: 481 km (298 mi). Apogee: 705 km (438 mi). Inclination: 57.00 deg. COSPAR: 2005-016A. USAF Sat Cat: 28646. Last East Coast Titan launch. Delayed from December 18, 2001; July 3, 2002; October 2004; February 20, April 6, 10 and 11, 2005. Amateur observors believed this to be the fifth in the Lacrosse/Onyx radar spy satellite series built by Lockheed Martin.
2005 May 2 - 05:00 GMT - Launch Site: Kiruna. Launch Complex: S. Launch Vehicle: Skylark. Model: Skylark 7. LV Configuration: Skylark 7 MASER 10.
  • MASER 10 Microgravity mission Nation: Sweden. Agency: SSC. Apogee: 252 km (156 mi). Final flight of Skylark suborbital rocket. MASER 10 carried two biology experiments and three fluid physics experiments. The payload spent six minutes in microgravity and worked perfectly during the flight.
2005 May 5 - 04:44 GMT - Launch Site: Sriharikota. Launch Complex: PSLV-2. Launch Pad: PSLV-2. Launch Vehicle: PSLV. LV Configuration: PSLV-C6.
  • CartoSat 1 Nation: India. Payload: IRS-P5. Mass: 1,560 kg (3,430 lb). Spacecraft: IRS. Manufacturer: ISRO. Agency: ISRO. Perigee: 620 km (380 mi). Apogee: 623 km (387 mi). Inclination: 97.90 deg. Period: 97.10 min. COSPAR: 2005-017A. USAF Sat Cat: 28649. First launch from new second PSLV pad at Sriharikota. Eleventh satellite in the Indian Remote Sensing satellite series, Cartosat-1 carried two panchromatic cameras, one fore-mounted with a tilt of +26 deg and the other aft-mounted with a tilt of -5 deg from the yaw axis. Together they provided black-and-white stereoscopic pictures in the visible region ( 0.50-0.85 micron) of the electromagnetic spectrum with a spatial resolution of 2.5 metre. The cameras covered a swath of 30 km and a solid state memory recorded up to 120 GB of images for downloading when the satellite passed over the Spacecraft Control Centre at Bangalore or ISTRAC stations at Lucknow, Mauritius, Bears Lake in Russia and Biak in Indonesia. Cartosat 1's sun-synchronous orbit crossed the equator at a local time of 10:30. The spacecraft was 3-axis stabilised using reaction wheels, magnetic torquers and hydrazine thrusters. 1100 W of eectrical power was provided by a 5 sq m solar array and two 24 Ah Ni-Cd batteries. Mission life was 5 years. Launch delayed from February, late April. The multispectral satellite had a 2.5-meter resolution camera.
2005 May 10 -
  • Mars Express, Deployment of MARSIS Instrument, first Boom, Successful Spacecraft: Mars Express.
2005 May 20 -
  • Richard Feynman Postage Stamp Released
2005 May 20 - 10:22 GMT - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Delta 7000. LV Configuration: Delta 7320-10C.
  • NOAA 18 Nation: USA. Program: Tiros. Payload: NOAA-N. Mass: 1,420 kg (3,130 lb). Class: Earth. Type: Weather. Spacecraft: Advanced Tiros N. Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin Space Systems. Agency: NOAA. Perigee: 847 km (526 mi). Apogee: 866 km (538 mi). Inclination: 98.70 deg. Period: 102.10 min. COSPAR: 2005-018A. USAF Sat Cat: 28654. Delayed from June 30, 2004, February 12, March 10 and 19, May 11, 12, 13 and 14.
2005 May 21 -
  • Cassini, Enceladus Non-Targeted Flyby, Successful Spacecraft: Cassini.
2005 May 22 - 17:59 GMT - Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Proton 8K82M. LV Configuration: Proton M s/n 53510 / Breeze M s/n 88512.
  • DirecTV-8 Nation: USA. Program: DirecTV. Mass: 3,711 kg (8,181 lb). Class: Communications. Spacecraft: FS-1300. Manufacturer: Space Systems/Loral. Agency: DirecTV. Perigee: 35,711 km (22,189 mi). Apogee: 35,842 km (22,271 mi). Inclination: 0.10 deg. Period: 1,435.60 min. COSPAR: 2005-019A. USAF Sat Cat: 28659. Provided United States direct-television broadcast coverage from the 101 degrees West longitude orbital slot. The satellite carried 16 high-power transponders for high-quality national digital video services. Purchased in October 2003 together with DirecTV-9S for a total price of $220 million for both. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 100.77W drifting at 0.002W degrees per day.
2005 May 31 - 12:00 GMT - Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: LC1. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. LV Configuration: Soyuz 11A511U s/n 091.
  • Foton M-2 Nation: Russia. Payload: Foton 14. Mass: 6,535 kg (14,407 lb). Class: Materials. Spacecraft: Foton. Manufacturer: TsSKB-Progress. Agency: Roskosmos. Perigee: 262 km (162 mi). Apogee: 304 km (188 mi). Inclination: 63.00 deg. Period: 89.93 min. COSPAR: 2005-020A. USAF Sat Cat: 28686. Decay Date: 2005-06-16. Microgravity mission with the experiments being returned to earth after 16 days in a spherical Vostok capsule of the type that first carried Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961. The capsule landed in Kazakhstan at 07:36 GMT on 16 June. For this mission a 385 kg European payload of 39 experiments in fluid physics, biology, material science, meteoritics, radiation dosimetry and exobiology was carried. A further 215 kg of Russian instruments were also flown. Many were experiments were being reflown following loss of Foton-M1 on 15 October 2002. The planned Fotino miniature re-entry capsule experiment was not flown.

    Applied research included heat transfer experiments with the European FluidPac facility, chemical diffusion experiments in the SCCO (Soret Coefficients in Crude Oil), and material science investigations in the Agat and Polizon furnaces. These experiments were expected to contribute to new heat-exchanger designs, more efficient oil exploration processes, and better semiconductor alloys. The Biopan facility carried life science experiments, including a student seed germination test.

2005 June 13 -
  • Mars Express, second Deployment of MARSIS Instrument, Successful Spacecraft: Mars Express.
2005 June 16 - 23:10 GMT - Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. LV Configuration: Soyuz 11A511U s/n 094 / ISS-18P.
  • Progress M-53 Nation: Russia. Program: ISS. Payload: Progress M s/n 353. Mass: 7,250 kg (15,980 lb). Class: Manned. Type: Logistics. Spacecraft: Progress M. Manufacturer: RKK Energia. Agency: Roskosmos. Perigee: 350 km (210 mi). Apogee: 353 km (219 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.60 min. COSPAR: 2005-021A. USAF Sat Cat: 28700. Duration: 82.62 days. Decay Date: 2005-09-07. Flight: ISS EO-11. Delayed from June 10. Space station resupply mission. After a communications failure, ISS Commander Krikalyov took manual remote control used the TORU system to guide Progress M-53 to a docking at the ISS Zvezda module at 00:42 GMT on 19 June. Undocked at 10:26 GMT on 7 September into a 350 km x 351 km orbit. Progress M-53 began retrofire at 13:26 GMT the same day, lowering its perigee to 56 km and thereby ensuring a destructive re-entry into the Pacific Ocean.
2005 June 21 - 00:49 GMT - Launch Site: Plesetsk. Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78M. FAILURE: Failure - Third stage propulsion.
  • Molniya 3K Nation: Russia. Payload: 11F637. Mass: 1,750 kg (3,850 lb). Class: Communications. Spacecraft: Molniya-2. Manufacturer: NPO Prikladnoy Mekhaniki. Agency: VKS. Delayed from May 25
2005 June 21 - 19:46 GMT - Launch Site: Barents Sea. Launch Vehicle: R-29. Model: Volna.
  • Cosmos 1 Nation: USA. Payload: Solnechny Parus. Mass: 103 kg (227 lb). Class: Technology. Spacecraft: Parus. Manufacturer: NPO Lavochkin. Agency: Planetary Society. Launched from SSBN Borisoglebsk. First orbital flight attempt of converted SLBM. Payload was solar sail demonstrator. Delayed from late 2001; March 20 and October 2002; late March, August 28 and October, 2003; February, March, April 6, May 20 and 31, 2005.
2005 June 23 - 14:03 GMT - Launch Site: Kiritimati. Launch Complex: Odyssey. Launch Vehicle: Zenit-3SL. LV Configuration: Zenit 3SL s/n 14.
  • Intelsat Americas 8 Nation: USA. Payload: Telstar 8. Mass: 5,500 kg (12,100 lb). Class: Communications. Spacecraft: FS-1300. Manufacturer: Space Systems/Loral. Agency: Intelsat. Perigee: 35,779 km (22,231 mi). Apogee: 35,795 km (22,241 mi). Inclination: 0.10 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min. COSPAR: 2005-022A. USAF Sat Cat: 28702. Delayed since 2002; most recently delayed from December 4 and 17, 2004. Communications satellite with Ku-, C- and Ka-band transponders, owned by Intelsat, which had been privatized. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 89.01W drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.
2005 June 24 - 19:41 GMT - Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: LC200. Launch Pad: LC200/39. Launch Vehicle: Proton 8K82K / 11S861-01. Model: Proton-K/DM-2M. LV Configuration: Proton K s/n 410-07/DM-2M s/n 103L.
  • Express AM-3 Nation: Russia. Payload: Ekspress AM. Mass: 2,600 kg (5,700 lb). Class: Communications. Spacecraft: Ekspress. Manufacturer: NPO Prikladnoy Mekhaniki, Alcatel Space. Agency: PO Kosmicheskaya Sviaz. Perigee: 35,783 km (22,234 mi). Apogee: 35,791 km (22,239 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min. COSPAR: 2005-023A. USAF Sat Cat: 28707. Delayed from April 2005. Satellite built by NPO PM with Alcatel C-, Ku- and L-band transponders.Stationed over 80 deg E longitude. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 139.98E drifting at 0.015W degrees per day.
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