Jonathan's Space Report Apr 10, 1990 (no.34) Fingers tightly crossed..... ---------------------------------------------------- The launch of orbiter Discovery and the Hubble Space Telescope was scrubbed at T-4min on Apr 10 due to a problem with APU 1. The APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) exhibited erratic behaviour during startup. The launch may be attempted again on Apr 11. Anatoli Solov'yov (Komandir) and Aleksandr Balandin (Bortinzhener) continue in orbit aboard the Mir complex. The Soyuz TM-9 transport and the Progress M-3 freighter are currently at the station. Solov'yov and Balandin have been in space for 58 days. The Pegasus winged rocket made its first flight on Apr 5, launched by the NASA NB-52 over the Pacific Ocean. NASA's Pegsat satellite was successfully placed in orbit, together with the second DARPA Global Low Orbiting Message Relay satellite. Remember Westar VI? Challenger deployed it in Feb 1984, the Pam-D upper stage failed and left it in low orbit. Discovery retrieved it in Nov 84, and the insurance company sold it. The satellite eventually ended up as Asiasat 1, property of Asia Satellite Communications Co of Hong Kong. Asiasat 1 returned to orbit on Apr 7 aboard a Chinese Chang Zheng 3 launch vehicle. This was the first Chinese launch of a non-Chinese satellite, from Xichang Space Center. Kosmos-2063, an early warning satellite, was launched on Mar 27. Apr 12 will mark the 29th anniversary of the first human flight in space by Yuriy Alekseevich Gagarin aboard the spaceship 'Vostok'. (c) 1990 Jonathan McDowell