The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

gamma-ray burst detector, and an experiment on
microacceleration in liquids.
Launch
Date: April 21, 1997
Vehicle: Pegasus XL
Site: Gran Canaria
Orbit: 561 × 580 km × 151.0°
Mass: 209 kg
Minitrack
A tracking network originally established for Vanguard
tracking and data acquisition during the International
Geophysical Year. It is now the basic network for tracking
small scientific Earth satellites.
Minotaur
A modified Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM) that uses the first two stages of the nowdecommissioned
Minuteman 2 ICBM and the upper
two stages of the PegasusXL booster. Minotaur can place
up to 340 kg into a 740-km Sun-synchronous orbit—a
payload about 50% greater than that of the Pegasus XL
alone. Its first successful operational launch was on January
26, 2000, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, when it
placed the JAWSAT payload adaptor, carrying several
microsatellites, into orbit.
Mir
See article, pages 282–283.
Miranda
A small British satellite, also known as UK-X4, designed
to test a new type of three-axis control system as an alternative
to spin stabilization. It was built by Hawker Siddeley
for the British Department of Trade and Industry
and launched by NASA.
Launch
Date: March 9, 1974
Vehicle: Scout D
Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base
Orbit: 703 × 918 km × 97.9°
Mass: 93 kg
Mishin, Vasily (1917–)
A Soviet rocket scientist and one of the first Russians to
see Nazi Germany’s V-2 (see “V” weapons) facilities at
the end of World War II. He was subsequently a close collaborator
of Sergei Korolev in the development of the
first Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and
in the Sputnik and Vostok programs. After Korolev’s
death, Mishin became head of Korolev’s OKB-1 design
Mitchell, Edgar Dean 281
bureau and tried unsuccessfully to commit the Soviet
space program to landing a man on the Moon.
missile
An unmanned aerial weapon of which there are two basic
types, the ballistic missile and the guided missile.
mission control center
A room or building equipped with the means to monitor
and control the progress of a spacecraft during all phases
of its flight after launch.
Mission of Opportunity (MO)
An investigation that forms part of a non-NASA space
mission of any size and has a total NASA cost of under
$35 million. Missions of Opportunity are conducted on
a no-exchange-of-funds basis with the organization sponsoring
the mission. NASA solicits proposals for MOs
with each Announcement of Opportunity (AO) issued
for UNEX (University-class Explorer), SMEX (Small
Explorer), and MIDEX (Medium-class Explorer) investigations.
Examples include HETE-2, TWINS, and
CINDI.
mission profile
A graphic or tabular presentation of the flight plan of a
spacecraft showing all pertinent events scheduled to occur.
mission specialist
A Space Shuttle astronaut whose responsibilities may
include conducting experiments in orbit, construction of
the International Space Station, and control of the
Orbiter’s resources to a payload. Mission specialists are
professional astronauts, employed by NASA or other
space agencies, as distinct from payload specialists.
Mississippi Test Facility
See Stennis Space Center.
Mitchell, Edgar Dean (1930–)
An American astronaut and a Navy captain who flew on
Apollo 14 and became the sixth human to walk on the
Moon. Mitchell obtained a B.S. in industrial management
from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now
Carnegie-Mellon University), an M.S. from the U.S.
Naval Postgraduate School, and a Ph.D. in aeronautics
and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
After retiring from the Navy in 1972, Mitchell
founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences to sponsor
research into the nature of consciousness as it relates to
cosmology and causality. In 1984, he was a cofounder of
the Association of Space Explorers, an international organization
of those who have experienced space travel.