Originally known as Planet-B; renamed Nozomi ('Hope') after launch. The third stage and payload entered a 146 x 417 km x 31.1 deg parking orbit. The KM-V1 kick (fourth) stage then fired to place the spacecraft into a circumlunar 359 x 401491 km x 28.6 deg orbit. Nozomi made multiple lunar and Earth gravity assist passes to increase its energy for solar orbit insertion and the cruise to Mars.. The spacecraft used a lunar swingby on 24 September and another on 18 December 1998 to increase the apogee of its orbit. It swung by Earth on 20 December at a perigee of about 1000 km. The gravitational assist from the swingby coupled with a 7 minute burn of the bipropellant engine put Nozomi into an escape trajectory towards Mars. It was scheduled to arrive at Mars on 11 October 1999 at 7:45:14 UT, but the Earth swingby left the spacecraft with insufficient acceleration and two course correction burns on 21 December used more propellant than planned, leaving the spacecraft short of fuel. The new plan is for Nozomi to remain in heliocentric orbit for an additional four years and encounter Mars at a slower relative velocity in December 2003. References: , 296 .

The first satellite launch from a submarine. The Shtil-1 launch vehicle was a converted R-29RM (RSM-54) three stage liquid propellant submarine launched ballistic missile made by the Makeyev design bureau. The satellite payload is placed in the standard R-29RM reentry vehicle. The launch plaform was the K-407 Novomoskovsk, a 667BDRM Delfin class submarine of the Russian Northern Fleet's 3rd Flotilla. Launch was from the Barents Sea at 69.3 degrees N x 35.3 degrees E. The Shtil contained an Israeli instrument package. References: 279 .

The first satellite launch from a submarine. The Shtil-1 launch vehicle was a converted Makeyev R-29RM SLBM. The satellite payload was placed in the standard re-entry vehicle. The launch platform was the K-407 Novomoskovsk, a 667BDRM Delfin class submarine of the Russian Northern Fleet 3rd Flotilla. The launch was made from a firing range in the Barents Sea off the coast of the Kolskiy Peninsula, at 35.3 deg E 69.3 deg N. The payloads were the Tubsat-N and Tubsat-N1 `nanosatellites'. Tubsat-N entered a 400 x 776 km x 78.9 deg orbit. Both carried small store-forward communications payloads used to keep track of transmitters placed on vehicles, migrating animals, and marine buoys. They are owned, operated and built by the Technische Universitat Berlin (TUB).

Customer: Chilean Air Force (FACH). Chile's second satellite carrying store and forward and Earth observation payloads, replacing those lost on FASat-Alpha. Still operational as of 2000. Additional Details: Fasat-Bravo.

Built by Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Replaced earlier Russian-launched Techsat which failed to orbit in 1995.

In addition to its remote sensing equipment, the satellite carried the Belgian LLMS (Little LEO Messaging System) communications payload for the IRIS system. The launch was critical in restoring confidence in the Zenit vehicle prior to planned commercial launches of Globalstar satellites from Baikonur and the first Sea Launch flights using a three-stage Zenit from a California-based floating launch platform. Expected life 3 to 5 years.

Relay satellite built by OHB System of Bremen.

Customer: Thailand (Thai Microsatellite Company and MUT). Thailand's first microsatellite built through a technology transfer programme with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. Carried store and forward and Earth observation payloads. Still operational as of 2000. Additional Details: TMSAT.

Formerly known as WPLTN-1, this geodesy satellite was a copy of Potsdam's GFZ-1 satellite, a sphere covered with laser retroreflectors, with a different `Fizeau' corner cube design. It serves as a target for the Western Pacific Laser Tracking Network (WPLTN) and is a joint project of Electro Optic Systems of Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia, and the Russian Space Agency. Diameter is 0.24m.

The CZ-3B's liquid hydrogen upper stage and the Sinosat were placed in a 609 x 35958 km x 19.0 deg geostationary transfer orbit at 09:45 GMT. The first two liquid apogee burns were carried out on July 19 and 21. Sinosat, Alcatel Spacebus 3000, was built in Cannes and owned temporarily by EurasSpace, a joint venture between Daimler-Benz Aerospace and the China Aerospace Corporation. After on-orbit testing it was delivered to the Sino Satellite Communications Company of Shanghai for communications services in China. Geostationary at 110.5 degrees E.

Iranian television showed what appeared to be a mock-up of a clam-shell nosecone with a small satellite inside and a model of a space launch vehicle with a bulbous payload section, apparently based upon the Shahab 3 joint North Korean/Iranian IRBM.

Plane B. Ascending node 60.4 degrees.

Plane B. Ascending node 60.4 degrees.

Plane B. Ascending node 60 degrees.

Plane B. Ascending node 59.9 degrees.

Plane B. Ascending node 61 degrees.

Plane B. Ascending node 59.7 degrees.

Plane B. Ascending node 61.1 degrees.

Plane B. Ascending node 61.2 degrees.

Third launch of Mercury ELINT satellite.

Soyuz TM-28 docked at 10:56 GMT on August 15 with the rear (Kvant) port of the Mir space station, which had been vacated at 09:28 GMT on August 12 by Progress M-39. The EO-25 crew, Musabayev and Budarin, landed with Baturin on Aug 25, leaving the EO-26 crew of Padalka and Avdeyev on the station. As only one final Soyuz mission to Mir was planned, with two of the seats on that Soyuz pre-sold to Slovak and French experimenters, the return crew of Soyuz TM-28 was subject to constant replanning and revision. On February 8, 1999, at 11:23 GMT Padalka and Avdeyev undocked from Mir's -X port in Soyuz TM-28, and redocked at the +X Kvant port at 11:39 GMT, freeing up the front port for the Soyuz TM-29 docking. Finally on February 27, 1999 EO-26 commander Padalka and Slovak cosmonaut Bella undocked Soyuz TM-28 from the Kvant rear docking port at 22:52 GMT, landing in Kazakhstan on February 28 at 02:14 GMT. Avdeyev remained on Mir with the EO-27 crew delivered on Soyuz TM-29, heading for a manned space flight time record.

Plane 2. Ascending node 199.4 degrees.

Plane 2. Ascending node 199.4 degrees.

Singapore-Taiwan-1 Matra Marconi Space Eurostar 2000 class satellite to provide communications for Singapore Telecom and Chunghwa Telecom of Taiwan. Geostationary at 88.0 degrees E.

Built by Hughes/El Segundo for Panamsat. The satellite carried 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders to provide US/Caribbean coverage, and was to have replaced the ageing SBS-5 satellite at 123 deg West. Replenishing the Galaxy/PAS constellation was a high priority for Panamsat following the loss of Galaxy 4 and problems with Galaxy 7. Galaxy 11 was not scheduled to go up until the first launch of the Sea Launch Zenit-3SL in early 1999, and this booster was in limbo due to legal problems with unauthorised transfer of technical data from Boeing to Russia. In addition there were several PAS satellites awaiting launch over the next year on Proton and Ariane vehicles.

The first burn of the Proton's Block DM3 put the spacecraft into a 220 x 36,007 km x 51.6 deg transfer orbit. Astra 2A satellite was a Hughes HS-601, owned by Societe Europeene de Satellites, based in Luxembourg. Luxembourg has not registered any of the Astra satellites with the United Nations, in violation of treaty requirements. Geostationary at 28.3 degrees E. Used HS-601 XIPS ion engine for station keeping.

North Korea reported the launch of its first satellite on the first of September. This announcement was followed on September 14 by the release of a photograph of the satellite and the claim that the satellite had completed its 100th orbit of the earth between 08:24 and 11:17 local time (2017 GMT) on September 13. Video of the launch, the satellite, and an animation of the satellite in orbit around the earth were distributed to foreign news agencies the following weekend. The satellite appeared almost identical to the first Chinese test satellite (which itself appeared almost identical to the US Telstar).

Despite these claims no foreign observer ever detected the satellite visually, by radar, or picked up its radio signals. The Pentagon at first claimed it was an ICBM launch, and that the satellite story was just a cover for the test. However on further analysis of the data collected on the launch they admitted nearly a month later that there had been some a satellite launch attempt. What seems to have happened is that the third stage either failed and fell into the Pacific or misfired and put the satellite into a low orbit where it decayed very quickly before it could be detected by foreign observers. Additional Details: Kwangmyongsong 1. References: 279 .

Plane 6. Ascending node 325.4 degrees. Not in service. References: 279 .

Plane 6. Ascending node 316.3 degrees. Failed in low orbit. References: 279 .

Plane 6. Ascending node 325.7 degrees. References: 279 .

Plane 6. Ascending node 325.7 degrees. References: 279 .

Plane 6. Ascending node 325.6 degrees. Not in service. References: 279 .

Fell in Siberia. References: 279 .

After donning spacesuits, the PKhO compartment of the Mir core module was depressurized and the crew entered the dead Spektr module at 20:00 GMT. They reconnected some cables for the solar panel steering mechanism and closed the hatch a half hour later. The PKhO was then repressurized.

GRP IDF-2

Geostationary at 68.7 degrees E. References: 279 .

Plane C. Ascending node 181.6 degrees. References: 279 .

Plane C. Ascending node 178 degrees. References: 279 .

Plane C. Ascending node 181.8 degrees. References: 279 .

Plane C. Ascending node 181.7 degrees. References: 279 .

Plane C. Ascending node 181.5 degrees. References: 279 .

Plane C. Ascending node 181.5 degrees. References: 279 .

Plane C. Ascending node 181.6 degrees. References: 279 .

Plane C. Ascending node 181.7 degrees. References: 279 .