EXPRESS (Germany)

Germany/Japan

Spacecraft n°:

German spacecraft n°: 25

EXPeriment REentry Space System

Launch data:

Designation	95F01
Launchdate - time	15 Jan 1995 at 13:45 UT
Launch site	Kagoshima
Launch vehicle	M-3S 2
Mission	Micro gravity and return
Earth orbit on:
Perigee / Apogee	110 x 250 km (reached) 270 x 380 km (planned)
Eccentricity
Inclination	33 deg
Period	88.1 min

Spacecraft data:

Prime Manufacturer	Krunichev
Platform
Operator	DARA, ISAS
Mass at launch	765 kg (total) 400 kg recovery capsule, 365 kg service module
Dry Mass	kg
Basic shape
Dimensions (m)
Solar array
Stabilization
DC power

The payload used a Russian-built reentry vehicle and the launch was carried out by the Japanese ISAS space agency. It was due to land in the Australian desert after a five day flight, but the TVC (thrust vector control) on the second stage malfunctioned 103 seconds after launch, and the fourth stage and payload entered a 110 x 250 km x 33 deg orbit, instead of the intended 270 x 380 km one. This failure was probably due to second-stage attitude-control oscillations that exhausted attitude-control fuel. The reentry capsule decay in Ghana whereas the service module reentered over the Pacific on its second orbit of the Earth.
It was tracked by US Space Command, but beaurocratic error meant that it did not receive orbital designation.
The reentry vehicle carried two CATEX materials processing ovens, and three German (CETEX, PYREX and RAFLEX) and one Japanese (RTEX) heat shield material reentry experiments.

End of life

Decay

15 Jan 1995

Ref.: #7, #14, #101 - update: 27.05.09

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