For an Australian Aboriginal propelling device, see the Spear Thrower article.
| Woomera Cosmodrome | |
|---|---|
| Location |  Australia |
| Governing body | Australian Space Research Institute |
Woomera is an Australian test site and spaceport located in central South Australia near Woomera.
Creation History
After World War II, the British government recognized the need to develop and test long-range and short-range missiles. After considering the option of building a training ground in Canada, it was decided that Australia would best meet the requirements of a missile training ground.
The construction of the landfill, and then the launch site, began on April 1, 1947 , in which British and Australian enterprises took part. To service the spaceport, the city of Woomera was founded (from the Spanish Spear thrower). In 1960, 6,000 people lived in the city. After the suspension of the cosmodrome, the population of the city began to decline and by the end of the 1990s amounted to less than 1000 people. One-third of the city's residents were American infrastructure maintenance personnel for military satellites.
On September 14, 1999, Australia announced plans to launch satellites from the Woomera spaceport using modified RT-2PM Russian missiles. However, in 2000, the program was finally closed.
General Information
The first launch was carried out on June 5, 1964 . A launch was launched along the ballistic trajectory of the Europe-1 launch vehicle . The first successful launch of the satellite from the cosmodrome was carried out on November 29, 1967 , when the first Australian satellite WRESAT was launched into Earth orbit using the Redstone American launch vehicle . The second successful launch of the satellite, and at the moment the last one, was carried out on October 28, 1971 , when the British satellite Prospero was launched into low Earth orbit with the help of the British launch vehicle Black Arrow . This launch was the last, later the cosmodrome was not actually operated for its intended purpose. In July 1976, the spaceport was closed, and the equipment was mothballed. In total, 24 launches were made from the launch site by three types of launch vehicles : Europe-1 (10 launches), Redstone (10 launches) and Black Arrow (4 launches). Of the 24 launches, only two ended with the launch of the payload into near-earth orbit, the rest of the launches ended in an accident or were carried out along a ballistic trajectory .
Minimum inclination: 82.0 degrees. Maximum inclination: 84.0 degrees.
Links
- Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
- All about space. Launch vehicles launched from the Woomera Cosmodrome.