Sep 7 1988
From The Space Library
After a tense 24-hour delay of deorbit burn, a Soviet Soyuz TM-5 capsule carrying two cosmonauts landed safely in Soviet Central Asia. The Soyuz TM-5, returning to Earth from a week-long visit to the Mir space station, experienced premature shutdowns of its reentry motor during the first two deorbit burn attempts. The first shutdown had been caused by a malfunction in the automatic guidance system, whereas the second failure resulted from improper resetting of the flight computer. The problem was considered by some U.S. space experts as potentially life threatening because the Soyuz was estimated to have only 24 to 48 hours of oxygen left and a limited amount of fuel with which to attempt a third deorbit bum. The mission had been noted for the participation' of an Afghani cosmonaut and the transfer to the Mir space station of a physician crew member. (FBIS-SOV-88-175, Sep 9/88; AP, Sep 7/88; NY Times, Sep 7/88; W Post, Sep 7/88; WSJ, Sep 7/88; W Times, Sep 7/88; B Sun, Sep 7/88)
NASA and McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company, St. Louis, Missouri, announced the signing of an agreement providing for use of facilities at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and technical support from the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, in support of commercial launches. The umbrella agreement would enable McDonnell Douglas to gain access to NASA-managed launch support facilities when conducting commercial launches of the Delta rocket, expected to begin in 1989. (NASA Release 88-124)
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