SB SAREX @ AMSAT $STS-70.002
SAREX Update & Keps 7/14

Silver Spring, MD
July 14, 1995 at 01:00 UTC

The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center yesterday
within 55 seconds of its 13:41 UTC scheduled launch time.  The flight was 
delayed at T-31 seconds (just prior to the auto sequence start) for a few 
seconds to clear a small issue.  The deployment of the last in the current 
generation of Tracking Data Relay Satellites from the space shuttle was 
successful.  The satellite is now on its way to geostationary orbit to serve 
the Shuttle and Space Station programs and unmanned satellites like Hubble 
Space Telescope.

The SAREX Working Group expects the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment payload
to be activated, checked out and opperational approximately 25 hours into the 
flight of Discovery.  Astronauts Don Thomas, KC5FVF, and Nancy Sherlock Curie,
KC5OZX plan to operate SAREX in the Voice and Packet modes.  Stay tuned for 
future announcements.

The following is Keplerian Element set JSC-004 as provided by Gil Carman, 
WA5NOM from the Johnson Space Center. 

STS-70
1 23612U 95035A   95194.87210206  .00073094  00000-0  23108-3 0    47
2 23612  28.4620 324.7442 0024281 195.1654 164.8261 15.85289896    67

Satellite: STS-70
Catalog number: 23612
Epoch time:      95194.87210206   =    (13-Jul-95   20:55:49.61 UTC)
Element set:     004
Inclination:       28.4620 deg
RA of node:       324.7442 deg            Space Shuttle Flight STS-70
Eccentricity:     .0024281               Keplerian element set JSC-004
Arg of perigee:   195.1654 deg           from NASA flight Day  1 vector
Mean anomaly:     164.8261 deg
Mean motion:   15.85289896 rev/day                Gil Carman
Decay rate:     7.3094e-04 rev/day^2       NASA Johnson Space Center
Epoch rev:               6
Checksum:              301

Submitted by Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO for the SAREX Working Group

/EX