The project was delayed by higher-priority test and production of third generation systems while at the same time responding to government crash programs for 'star wars' systems. But the revised schedule was almost immediately followed by the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the attendant financial crisis.

Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation; survey of seismically active regions of the country, including the Armenian SSR, in the interests of industrial and non -industrial construction.

Stationed at 53 deg E. Provision of telephone and telegraph radiocommunications and television broadcasting. The Rimsat network was initiated when Gorizont 17 was leased to the corporation and transferred from 53 degrees E (where it was then a backup to Gorizont 27) to 134 degrees E during late-June and July, 1993. At the close of 1994, Gorizont 17 was still on station but nearing the end of its operational life after six years. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 53 deg E in 1989-1993; 134 deg E in 1993-1995; 34 deg E in 1995-1997 As of 30 August 2001 located at 22.84 deg W drifting at 4.340 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 147.41W drifting at 4.350W degrees per day.

International communications; 18 deg W. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 60 deg E in 1989-1992; 18 deg W in 1992-1996; 22 deg W in 1996-1997; 38 deg W in 1998-1999 As of 5 September 2001 located at 37.72 deg W drifting at 0.020 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 153.76E drifting at 4.192W degrees per day.

Unmanned resupply vessel to Mir. Conducted third test of Buran ejection seat during ascent to orbit. The K-36M.11F35 seat was installed in an 'experimental droppable compartment' installed in place of the Launch Escape Tower engine on top of the shroud. Docked with Mir on 12 Feb 1989 10:29:38 GMT. Undocked on 3 Mar 1989 01:45:52 GMT. Unfurled experimental space mirror petal structure on undocking. Destroyed in reentry on 5 Mar 1989 01:59:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 4.08 days. Total docked time 18.64 days.

Investigation of the natural resources of the Earth in the interests of various branches of the Soviet economy and international cooperation; space-based survey of the central part of Antarctica for purposes of mapping inaccessible regions of that continent.

Japanese domestic communications; 150 deg E. Domestic communication. Launching states: Japan, France, USA. Launch vehicle Ariane 29 (Ariane IV). Launching organization ARIANE SPACE. Launch time 1129 GMT. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 150 deg E in 1989-1997; 148 deg E in 1997; 111 deg E in 1998 As of 31 August 2001 located at 19.12 deg E drifting at 2.653 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 63.05E drifting at 2.678W degrees per day.

Meteosat Operational Program; weather imaging, atmospheric data; 0 deg. Geostationary meteorological satellite, operating within the world-wide network of the World Weather Watch of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Its main missions are: imaging in the visible, infrared and water vapour region of the spectrum. Dat a reception from so called Data Collection Platforms (DCPs); data distribution to meteorological services and other interested parties (research institutes, etc). As of 4 September 2001 located at 98.34 deg W drifting at 11.393 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 21.37E drifting at 11.390W degrees per day.

Manned five crew. Deployed TDRS 4. Payloads: Deploy IUS (Inertial Upper Stage) with Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)-D. Protein Crystal Growth (PCG); Chromosome and Plant Cell Division in Space; IMAX 70mm camera; Shuttle Student Involvement Project (SSIP) experiments: SSIP 82-8, Effects of Weightlessness in Space Flight on the Healing of Bone Fractures, and SSIP 83-9, Chicken Embryo Development in Space; Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.

Deployed from STS 29 13 March 1989; NASA communications; 41 deg W. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 41 deg W in 1989-1999 As of 5 September 2001 located at 41.04 deg W drifting at 0.010 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 45.81W drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.

"Star Trek" - Discovery crew woke Mission Control with theme, followed by congratulatory comments from William Shatner. Mission Control responded with a medley of school songs from crew members' alma maters:"Anchors Aweigh", The Air Force Song ("Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder"), and Drexel University"Fight Song" CAPCOM: G. David Low. He responded with ad lib:"Discovery, Houston - Beam Me Up, Scotty"

Unmanned resupply vessel to Mir. Conducted fourth test of Buran ejection seat during ascent to orbit. The K-36M.11F35 seat was installed in an 'experimental droppable compartment' installed in place of the Launch Escape Tower engine on top of the shroud. Delivered Bulgarian Spektr 256 spectrometer, power supplies for failed equipment. Docked with Mir on 18 Mar 1989 20:50:46 GMT. Between April 9 and 17 boosted Mir into a 373 X 416 km storage orbit after the decision was made to delay remanning the station. However these maneuvers resulted in the spacecraft running out of fuel. Undocked on 21 Apr 1989 01:46:15 GMT. Destroyed in uncontrolled decay of orbit on 25 Apr 1989 12:12:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 6.52 days. Total docked time 33.21 days.

"What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong preceded by recordings of astronauts' children shouting such things as"Get up, Dad, get out of bed and get to work" and"Hi, daddy, this is your darling daughter telling you to wake up" The crew responded with"Homeward Bound" by Simon and Garfunkel.

Phobos 2 operated nominally throughout its cruise and entered Mars orbit on January 29, 1989. Contact with the vehicle was lost on March 27, 1989 shortly before the final phase of the mission during which the spacecraft was to approach within 50 meters of Phobos' surface and release its two landers. The cause of the failure was determined to be a malfunction of the on-board computer.

TV, business communications for Nordic countries; 5 deg E. High power telecommunications satellite with a dual mission; direct TV broadcasting and data communications. Four active transponders with two redundant; power output 200 W per transponder. Coverage area - East Nordic coverage zone as defined by ITU (WARC -77). Mission period estimated to be 6 to 8 years. Position 5 deg E. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 5 deg E in 1989-1998 As of 28 August 2001 located at 138.62 deg W drifting at 3.929 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 132.37W drifting at 3.933W degrees per day.

SME was developed to investigate the processes that create and destroy ozone in the Earth's upper atmosphere. All instruments were turned off in December 1988 due to power constraints. Contact was lost on April 14, 1989 after a battery failure, and the vehicle re-entered on March 5, 1991.

Stationed at 336 deg E. Provision of telephone and telegraph radiocommunications and television broadcasting. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 25 deg W in 1989-1995; 44 deg E in 1995-1996 As of 4 September 2001 located at 53.34 deg E drifting at 0.294 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 28.48E drifting at 0.016E degrees per day.

The Baby Babylon was completed at Jabal Hamrayn, 145 km north of Baghdad. The horizontally-mounted gun was 45-m long with a 350 mm barrel, and had a total mass of 102 tonnes. Following tests using lead projectiles the gun was reassembled on a hillside at a 45 degree angle. It was expected to achieve a range of 750 km. One of the planned missions for the prototype gun was as an anti-satellite weapon. It would launch a special shell in space that would explode near the target satellite, covering it with sticky material and blinding it.

SAR radar imaging of the Venusian surface, gravitational field mapping. The Magellan spacecraft was deployed from shuttle STS-30 on May 5, 1989, arrived at Venus on August 10, 1990 and was inserted into a near-polar elliptical orbit with a periapsis altitude of 294 km at 9.5 deg. N. The primary objectives of the Magellan mission were to map the surface of Venus with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and to determine the topographic relief of the planet. At the completion of radar mapping 98% of the surface was imaged at resolutions better than 100 m, and many areas were imaged multiple times. The mission was divided up into 'cycles', each cycle lasted 243 days (the time necessary for Venus to rotate once under the Magellan orbit - i.e. the time necessary for Magellan to 'see' the entire surface once.) The mission proceeded as follows: 10 Aug 1990 - Venus orbit insertion and spacecraft checkout;15 Sep 1990 - Cycle 1: Radar mapping (left-looking); 15 May 1991 - Cycle 2: Radar mapping (right-looking); 15 Jan 1992 - Cycle 3: Radar mapping (left-looking); 14 Sep 1992 - Cycle 4: Gravity data acquisition; 24 May 1993 - Aerobraking to circular orbit; 3 Aug 1993 - Cycle 5: Gravity data acquisition; 30 Aug 1994 - Windmill experiment; 12 Oct 1994 - Loss of radio signal; 13 Oct 1994 - Loss of spacecraft. A total of 4225 usable SAR imaging orbits was obtained by Magellan. Magellan showed an Earth-sized planet with no evidence of Earth-like plate tectonics. At least 85% of the surface is covered with volcanic flows, the remainder by highly deformed mountain belts. Even with the high surface temperature (475 C) and high atmospheric pressure (92 bars), the complete lack of water makes erosion a negligibly slow process, and surface features can persist for hundreds of millions of years. Some surface modification in the form of wind streaks was observed. Over 80% of Venus lies within 1 km of the mean radius of 6051.84 km. The mean surface age is estimated to be about 500 million years. A major unanswered question concerns whether the entire surface was covered in a series of large events 500 million years ago, or if it has been covered slowly over time. The gravity field of Venus is highly correlated with the surface topography, which indicates the mechanism of topographic support is unlike the Earth, and may be controlled by processes deep in the interior. Details of the global tectonics on Venus were still unresolved.

Deployed Pion 1 & 2. Resurs-F: Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the Soviet economy and international cooperation. Satellite carries two passive separable 'Pion' probes to investigate upper atmospheric density.

Deployed from Resurs F1 6/9/89; passive atmosphere research. Resurs-F: Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the Soviet economy and international cooperation. Satellite carries two passive separable 'Pion' probes to investigate upper atmospheric density.

Deployed from Resurs F1 6/9/89; passive atmosphere research. Resurs-F: Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the Soviet economy and international cooperation. Satellite carries two passive separable 'Pion' probes to investigate upper atmospheric density.

Japanese domestic business communications; 158 deg E. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 158 deg E in 1989-1990 As of 6 September 2001 located at 41.59 deg E drifting at 1.921 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 166.35W drifting at 1.878W degrees per day.

Multipurpose communications; 23.5 deg E. Communications satellite, position 23.5E, Ariane 4 flight no 20. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 23 deg E in 1989-1993; 33 deg E in 1993-1995 As of 5 September 2001 located at 90.12 deg E drifting at 1.435 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 41.93E drifting at 1.416E degrees per day.

First DSP-1 Block 14 ballistic missile launch detection satellite; first Titan 4 launch. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 165 deg W in 1990-1994; 145 deg W in 1999; 166 deg W in 2000.. Still in service as of March 2007. As of 2007 Feb 5 located at 145.23W drifting at 0.014W degrees per day.

Stationed at 49 deg E; first launch of alternate Raduga design. Maintenance of telephone and telegraph radio communications. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 49 deg E in 1989-1992; 70 deg E in 1992-1996 As of 2 September 2001 located at 18.58 deg E drifting at 5.633 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 167.42W drifting at 5.632W degrees per day.

Civilian maritime navigation satellite. Positioned in plane 11 of constellation. Signals at 150,00 MHz and 400.00 MHz. Carried COSPAS/SARSAT search and rescue package. Location of vessels in the Soviet merchant marine and fishing fleet; work within the international space search and rescue system for locating vessels and aircraft in distress (COSPAS-SARSAT).

Stationed at 140 deg E. Provision of telephone and telegraph radiocommunications and television broadcasting. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 140 deg E in 1989-1996 As of 5 September 2001 located at 100.49 deg E drifting at 3.169 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 90.76W drifting at 3.156W degrees per day.

Commsat technology demonstration;19 deg W. Olympus-1 is a multi-payload communications satellite for direct TV broadcast in the bands of the 1977 Geneva Plan of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) (including a national beam to Italy) plus communication transponde rs in the 14/12 GHz, 2nd 30/20 GHz bands. The latter are also used for a data relay experiment with ESA's EURECA satellite. Position on geostationary orbit 341 deg E. Launch time 0014:00 UT. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 19 deg W in 1989-1991; 19 deg W in 1991-1993 As of 4 September 2001 located at 82.22 deg E drifting at 3.961 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 118.63E drifting at 3.947E degrees per day.

The Beam Experiment Aboard Rocket (BEAR) payload was recovered with minimal damage via parachute after an 11-minute flight to a maximum altitude of 195 km. The neutral partical beam experiment was provided by Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Attitude Control System spun-up the payload at various rates and orientations with respect to the earths magnetic field after separation from the booster. After re-entry, at 5,000 m, the nose was jettisoned and the recovery parachute system deployed. The payload impacted the ground at less than 30 feet per second. The BEAR mission was declared a total success by SDIO.

Deployed Pion 3 & 4. Resurs-F: Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the Soviet economy and international cooperation. Satellite carries two passive separable 'Pion' probes to investigate upper atmospheric density.

Deployed from Resurs F3 8/7/89; passive atmospheric research. Resurs-F: Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the Soviet economy and international cooperation. Satellite carries two passive separable 'Pion' probes to investigate upper atmospheric density.

Manned five crew. Deployed 2 classified satellites. Landed at: Runway 17 dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, . Landing Speed: 287 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 1,618.00 m. Landing Rollout: 1,833.00 m. Payloads: DoD Mission.

TV services to West Germany; 19 deg W. Direct broadcasting satellite. Position 19 deg W. Ariane 4, flight no 33. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 19 deg W in 1989-1995; 1 deg W in 1995-1998; 12 deg W in 1998-1999 As of 31 August 2001 located at 29.41 deg W drifting at 1.503 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 150.44E drifting at 1.494W degrees per day.

Unmanned supply vehicle to Mir; first flight of new vehicle design. Tested on-board systems under different conditions and delivered expendable materials and sundry cargo to the Mir manned space station. Docked with Mir on 25 Aug 1989 05:19:02 GMT. Undocked on 1 Dec 1989 09:02:23 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 1 Dec 1989 11:21:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 2.19 days. Total docked time 98.16 days.

British DBS; 31 deg W. Direct broadcasting system. Expected operational life, 10 years. Owner/operator: British Satellite Broadcasting Ltd, The Marcopolo Building, Chelsea Bridge, Queenstown Rd, London SW8 4NQ. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 31 deg W in 1989-1993; 5 deg E in 1994-2000; 13 deg W in 2000. As of 31 August 2001 located at 12.98 deg W drifting at 0.008 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 45.02W drifting at 3.908W degrees per day.

Total development cost of ALS was estimated as $15 billion through its first flight in 1998, and in the absence of a massive 'Star Wars' space based defence, the lower launch rates could not pay back this investment. By 1990 the program was reduced to a $150 million per year propulsion development effort.

Stationed at 140 deg E. GMS-4 (Himawari-4). Improvement of meteorological observation. Development of meteorological satellite technology. Launch vehicle H-I (H20F). Launching organization NASDA. Launch time 1911 GMT. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 160 deg E in 1989; 140 deg E in 1989-1995; 120 deg E in 1995-1999 As of 4 September 2001 located at 126.83 deg E drifting at 10.301 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 71.28W drifting at 10.305W degrees per day.

Manned two crew. Mir Expedition EO-05. Docked with Mir 8 September. Transported to the Mir orbital station a team consisting of A S Viktorenko, commander of the spacecraft, and A A Serebrov, on-board engineer, to carry out scientific and technological research and experiments. Flight cost 80 million rubles. Expected return 25 million rubles net profit.

Carried W. German microgravity experiment. Investigation of the natural resources of the Earth in the interests of the Soviet economy and international cooperation; and the conduct of biotechnological experiments under a commercial agreement with the firm Interspace (Federal Republic of Germany).

29 US/USSR life science experiments conducted on monkeys, insects, plants, fish, rats. Carried monkeys Zhankonya and Zabiyaka. Cosmos 2044 was the seventh Soviet Biosatellite to orbit the Earth with joint U.S./U.S.S.R. experiments onboard. Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Canada, Poland, Britain, Romania, Czechoslovakia and the European Space Agency also participated in the mission. The joint U.S./U.S.S.R. experiments were conducted on two rhesus monkeys and ten rats that were flown onboard the Biosatellite. The biological payload on the spacecraft also included fish, amphibians, insects, worms, protozoans, cell cultures and plants. Last launch from LC41. Additional Details: here....

Last in series of 8. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Launch vehicle put payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 23 deg W in 1989-1999.

US participation; particles and fields experiments; deployed Magion 2. Comprehensive study of the processes of propagation of low-frequency electromagnetic waves in the earth's magnetosphere and their interaction with charged particles of the radiation belts, in cooperation with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democrati c Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania (the international scientific project entitled 'Aktivny'). Carrying the Czechoslovak Magion-2 satellite.

Deployed from Intercosmos 24 10/3/89; examined signal propogation from Intercosmos 24. Research of the magnetosphere and the ionosphere of the Earth. The Czechoslovak satellite Magion 2 was launched into orbit by the Soviet spacecraft Intercosmos 24. Magion 2 forms a part of the scientific programme of Intercosmos 24 (project Aktivnyj) Exe cution of the scientific programme of the 'Aktivny' project in conjunction with Intercosmos-24, permitting simultaneous spatially separating investigations of plasma processes in circumterrestrial space.

Stationed at 97.5 deg E. Operation of the long-range telephone and telegraph radio-communications system and transmission of television programmes. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 97 deg E in 1989-1996; 34 deg E in 1996-1998 As of 4 September 2001 located at 105.39 deg E drifting at 0.168 deg E per day. As of 2007 Feb 28 located at 84.84E drifting at 0.295W degrees per day.

Rockwell International (Space Systems Division) began a year-long contracted effort managed by Langley Research Center to perform an in-depth study of Personnel Logistics System design and operations with the HL-20 concept as a baseline. The spaceplane would supplement the shuttle in support of the Space Station Freedom.

Manned five crew. Deployed Galileo .Payloads: Deploy IUS with Galileo spacecraft. Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV), Polymer Morphology (PM) experiments, IMAX camera project, Mesoscale Lightning Experiment (MLE), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment, Growth Hormone Concentration and Distribution (GHCD) in Plants experiment, Sensor Technology Experiment (STEX), SSIP Student Experiment (SE) 82-15, Ice Crystals Experiment. First flight at this inclination.

Deployed from STS-34 18 October 1989; entered Jupiter orbit 7 December 1995 and conducted investigations of Jupiter's moons, atmosphere, and magnetosphere. Although the antenna failed to deploy, NASA developed workarounds and the spacecraft cruised the Jovian system for eight years. Its propellant then depleted, it was maneuvered to enter the Jovian atmosphere on September 21, 2003, at 18:57 GMT. Entry was at 48.2 km/s from an orbit with a periapsis 9700 km below the 1-bar atmospheric layer. The spacecraft continued transmitting at least until it passed behind the limb of Jupiter at 1850:54 GMT, at which point it was 9283 km above the 1-bar level, surprising Galileo veterans who feared it might enter safemode due to the high radiation environment. On its farewell dive, it had crossed the orbit of Callisto at around 1100 on September 20, the orbit of Ganymede at around 0500 on September 21, Europa's orbit at about 1145, Io's orbit at about 1500, Amalthea's orbit at 1756, and the orbits of Adrastea and Metis at 1825. Galileo was destroyed to prevent the possibility that its orbit would eventually be perturbed in such a way that it would crash on and biologically contaminate Europa, which was considered a possible place to search for life. Light travel time from Jupiter to Earth was 52 min 20 sec at the time of impact, and the final signal reached Earth at 1943:14 GMT.

"University fight songs medley" sent as a tribute to the Mission Specialists and their undergraduate schools: 1. University of Oklahoma for Shannon Lucid, 2. University of Connecticut for Franklin Chang-Diaz, 3. State University of New York at Buffalo for Ellen Baker. CAPCOM: Tammy Jernigan

Stationed at 24.5 deg E. At the time, the Intelsat 6 series were the largest commercial spacecraft ever built. The series were also the first commercial satellites to employ Satellite Switched/Time Division Multiple Access (SS/TDMA) techniques. Spacecraft: Based on Hughes 393 bus. Spin stabilised with despun antenna. Hydrazine propulsion system. Passive thermal control. Telescoping dual-cylinder structure with deployed antennas. Body mounted solar cells generate 2250 W (EOL). Solar drums are each about 6m tall. Payload: 38 (plus 12 backup) C-Band and 10 (plus 4 backup) Ku-Band transponders.120,000 telephone calls and 3 colour TV broadcasts simultaneously. SS/TDMA (Satellite-Switched Time Division Multiple Access) techniques used. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 37 deg W in 1989-1990; 24 deg W in 1990-1991; 55 deg E in 1991; 60 deg E in 1992; 63 deg E in 1992-1997; 62 deg E in 1997-1999 As of 29 August 2001 located at 62.02 deg E drifting at 0.018 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 150.55E drifting at 0.004W degrees per day.

Manned five crew. Deployed a classified payload. Orbits of Earth: 78. Distance traveled: 3,218,687 km. Landed at: Concrete runway 04 at Edwards Air Force Base, Cali. Landing Speed: 368 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 570.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,366.00 m. Payloads: DoD Mission - third space shuttle night launch.

Mir expansion module. Scheduled docking 2 December delayed due to failure of solar panel to extend and failure of automatic rendezvous system. Faults corrected by ground control and docked with Mir December 6, 1989 at 12:21 GMT. Transferred to lateral port December 8.
Officially: Delivery to the Mir orbital station of additional equipment and apparatus for the purpose of expanding the research and experiments conducted in the interests of science and the national economy.

Stationed at 45 deg E. Radio telephone and telegraph communications and transmission of television programmes. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 45 deg E in 1990-1994. Replaced by Raduga 31. As of 3 September 2001 located at 103.47 deg E drifting at 0.067 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 47.08E drifting at 0.104W degrees per day.

Unmanned resupply vessel to Mir; carried US microgravity payload. Delivered various cargoes to the Mir orbital station, including scientific apparatus produced in the United States of America and intended, pursuant to a commercial agreement, for the conduct of experiments on space biotechnology. Docked with Mir on 22 Dec 1989 05:41:21 GMT. Undocked on 9 Feb 1990 02:33:07 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 9 Feb 1990 07:56:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 2.31 days. Total docked time 48.87 days.