The Ekspress series spacecraft for Data transmission, TV & radio-broadcasting, communications, Internet, video-conference closely resembled the Gals spacecraft and shared a similar spacecraft bus. Ekspress was to replace the widely used Gorizont spacecraft, and plans called for deployments at 13 locations (40 degrees, 53 degrees, 80 degrees, 90 degrees, 96.5 degrees, 99 degrees, 103 degrees, 140 degrees, 145 degrees, 205 degrees, 322.5 degrees, 346 degrees, and 349 degrees, all East longitude) for domestic needs and to support the Intersputnik Telecommunications Association.
Geostationary OrbitSoyuz TM-20 was the 20th mission and the 17th long-duration expedition to Mir space station. The mission began on October 3, 1994, 22:42:30 UTC, launching Commander Alexander Viktorenko, Flight Engineer Yelena Kondakova and Research Cosmonaut Ulf Merbold into orbit. They docked with Mir two days later. During their stay there, cosmonauts performed two EVAs, carried out various scientific experiments. Station crew was visited by several Progress resupply spacecrafts, and welcomed aboard the Soyuz TM-21 crew. During this mission the first rendezvous maneuver of the Space Shuttle STS-63 with the Mir space station was performed. The mission concluded with a safe landing back on Earth on March 22, 1995, 04:04:05 UTC.
Low Earth OrbitSTS-64 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission that was set to perform multiple experiment packages. STS-64 was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 9 September 1994, and landed back on 20 September 1994 at Edwards Air Force Base.
Low Earth Orbit