Soyuz TM-30 docked with Mir's forward (-X) port on April 6 at 0631 GMT. Zalyotin and Kaleri reactivated Mir and using Progress M1-1 and M1-2 resupplied the station and raised the orbit to 360 x 378 km x 51.6 deg. The orbital plane of Mir was then around 120 degrees away from that of ISS (making transport between the stations impossible, as desired by NASA). Soyuz TM-30 undocked from Mir on June 15 21:24 GMT. Retrofire came at 23:52 GMT, followed by a safe landing at June 16, 00:44 GMT near Arkalyk in Kazakkstan.

Sesat (Siberia-Europe Satellite) used an MSS-2500-GSO (Gals/Ekspress) satellite bus built by NPO PM of Krasnoyarsk, with an Alcatel Espace France payload of 18 Ku-band transponders. The satellite had 8 Fakel SPD-100 plasma thrusters for stationkeeping. Eutelsat operated their Hot Bird fleet of European television broadcast satellites since the 1980's, but the venture into broadcasting to Siberia represented a new step for them. Stationed at 36 deg E.

Galaxy 4R carried 28 Ku-band and 28 C-band transponders. After insertion in a standard 219 x 32007 km x 7.0 deg geostationary transfer orbit, Galaxy 4R's R-4D apogee engine raised orbit to 35765 x 35792 km x 0.1 deg by April 27 and was over 67 deg W by late April. Final destination was 99 deg W. The Galaxy satellites provide US domestic telecommunications services. 4R replaces the original Galaxy 4H which failed in May 1998, putting pagers out of action across the USA. Stationed at 99 deg W.

Progress M1-2 docked with the rear Kvant port of Mir at 2128 GMT on April 27. Mir's orbit was raised on April 29 in the first of a series of three burns by Progress M1-2. It later undocked and was deorbited over the Pacific on 15 October.

Advanced imaging reconnaissance satellite. Relays digital imagery to earth via geostationary comsats. The last such satellite, Cosmos 2359, reentered in July 1999 after one year in orbit. The Soyuz-U launcher placed it in a 183 x 277 km x 64.8 deg initial orbit; it raised altitude to 240 x 300 km about 24 hr after launch.

US civilian geostationary weather satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series. It was the first GOES launch on the Atlas II launch vehicle (the Atlas I having been phased out). Built by SS/Loral, based on the FS-1300 bus. It was equipped with one solar panel array and a counter-boom with a solar sail. The satellite carried well as an imaging radiometer and an X-ray detector to monitor solar activity. Stationed at 106 deg W.

Early warning satellite for the US Air Force. Delivered by the two-stage IUS-22 solid rocket into geostationary orbit. Fullfilled mission of DSP 19 launched in 1999 into the wrong orbit when its IUS stage failed.

Navstar Block IIR GPS navigation satellite, GPS IIR-4 or SVN 51. Placed into an elliptical transfer orbit. The satellite's Thiokol Star 37 apogee motor was used to circularise the orbit at 20,000 km.

The cosmonauts entered open space via the air-lock of Kvant-2 at 10:44 GMT. The Germatizator experiment, the use of a special glue to seal off cracks on the outside surface of the complex, was executed according to plan. An inspection of a malfunctioning solar panel on Kvant-1showed that the steering cable to the rotor was burnt through due to a short-circuit and was beyond repair. The cosmonauts dismantled an experimental lightweight solar battery from the outer surface of the SO docking compartment. The last activity was the panorama-inspection, making images of the outside of the complex to enable specialist to analyse the effects of ageing of the material. The hatch was closed on what might have been the last spacewalk on Mir at 15:36 GMT.

First Rokot flight from Plesetsk, using a launch pad originally used for Kosmos rockets. The two-stage modified UR-100NUTTKh ICBM, delivered a Briz-KM upper stage to a suborbital trajectory. The first Briz burn was to an approximately 200 x 550 km transfer orbit; the second burn circularized at apogee. It placed two 660 kg dummy satellites in orbits similar to the parking orbit was used for the defunct Iridium program. The Briz-KM stage then made a third burn to lower its perigee to a 178 x 556 km x 86.4 deg disposal orbit.

Objective of mission STS-101 was repair, resupply and construction tasks aboard the international space station. This was the first launch with new electronic cockpit displays and other upgrades. The solid boosters separated at 10:13 GMT and the main engines cutoff at 10:19 GMT. The external tank, ET-102 then separated, with both orbiter and ET-102 in a 52 x 320 km initial orbit. At 10:54 GMT the OMS engines fired to raise perigee to 159 x 329 km x at 51.6 deg. Atlantis docked with the International Space Station's PMA-2 docking adapter on the Unity node at 04:31 GMT on May 21. At that time the ISS was in a 332 x 341 km orbit.

On May 22 mission specialists Jeff Williams and James carried out external maintenance work on the ISS.

On May 23 at 00:03 GMT the Atlantis crew opened the first hatch to PMA-2 and entered the Station. The crew replaced a set of batteries in Zarya, installed fans and ducting to improve airflow, and delivered supplies and equipment. Three hour-long orbit raising burns on May 24 and 25 by the RCS engines on Atlantis raised the station to a 372 x 380 km x 51.6 deg orbit.

The STS-101 crew left the station on May 26, closing the PMA-2 hatch at 08:08 GMT and undocking at 23:03 GMT. Atlantis performed a 180 degree flyaround of the station and departed the vicinity around 23:44 GMT.

Atlantis closed its payload bay doors around 02:30 GMT on May 29 and fired the OMS engines for deorbit at 05:12 GMT. The vehicle landed on RW15 at Kennedy Space Center at 06:20 GMT. Atlantis was to be turned around for the next ISS shuttle flight, STS-106.

Left in orbit was the renovated International Space Station, equipped with an upgraded electrical system, new fans, filters, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and communications gear. Additional Details: STS-101. References: 4 , 7 .

The crew reattached the US crane, attached the Russian Strela transfer boom, and replaced a faulty antenna on the Unity node. EVA handrails were fixed to the station exterior for use on later spacewalks.

European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Eutelsat) satellite equipped with 32 Ku-band transponders, and antennae covering Russia and Africa. It will be stationed at 36 deg E. This was the third of the high power Eutelsat W series to be launched (W1 was destroyed in a ground accident). Stationed at 36 deg E.

First successful Proton/Briz-M launch. The Proton placed the Briz-M/Gorizont payload stack into a suborbital trajectory. The stage then performed four maneuvers to put the satellite into geosynchronous orbit:

• Burn 1 placed the stack into a 200 km, 51.6 deg parking orbit probably inclined at around 51.6
• Burn 2 raised apogee to 6000 km and changed inclination slightly
• Burn 3, at second perigee, four hours after launch put the stack in a 369 x 34,988 km x 48.8 deg transfer orbit. The Briz-M then jettisoned its empty toroidal supplementary fuel tank.
• Burn 4, ten hours after launch, placed Gorizont No. 45L in near-geostationary orbit.

Fifth STEP (Space Test Experiments Program) satellite. The satellite's main section was the STRV-2 experiment module, sponsored by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the UK Ministry of Defense. This was to take infrared images of UK military aircraft at perigee, and then downlink data via laser. STRV-2 also carried vibration isolation and debris impact sensors. A secondary payload was the S97-1 CEASE (Compact Environmental Anomaly Sensor). This was an AFRL prototype sensor package to provide warning of spacecraft charging and radiation events.

Geosynchronous communications satellite. Stationed at 11 deg W.

Second Fengyun-2 weather satellite, replacing the first FY-2 (retired in April after a three year service life). The spin-stabilised FY-2 fired its solid apogee motor early on Jun 26. By July 3, it was in a 35,791 x 35,804 km x 1.1 deg orbit drifting over the Pacific. Stationed at 104 deg E.

Nadezhda navigation/search and rescue satellite. This represented the first sun-synchronous launch from Plesetsk.

The SNAP-1 Surrey Nanosatellite Applications Platform was a 6 kg satellite with imager and propulsion. It was to test rendezvous techniques by formation flying with the Tsinghua satellite placed in orbit on the same launch.

Tsinghua University of Beijing satellite equipped with an imager, communications payload, and momentum wheels for 3-axis stabilisation. The 50 kg, 0.69 x 0.36 x 0.36m box-shaped satellite used a standard Surrey SSTL microsat bus.

Digital Audio Radio Satellite, used for transmission of S-band radio broadcasts direct to receivers in cars in the United States. Sirius 1 was inserted into an initial 6,166 x 47110 km x 63.4 deg transfer orbit by the Proton-K's Blok DM3 upper stage. The satellite's R4D liquid apogee engine made several burns to raise the orbit to 24,388 x 47,097 km x 63.3 deg by July 8. This elliptical, inclined 24 hour orbit had a 24 hour period, designed to keep the satellite between longitude 60W and 140W, with apogee over the northern hemisphere. Stationed at 66 deg W.

First Advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, using a Hughes HS 601 satellite bus. It included an S-band phased array antenna and two Ku/Ka band reflectors 4.6 meters in diameter. The satellite was launched into a a 167 x 577 km x 28.3 deg parking orbit at 13:05 GMT. The Centaur upper stage made a second burn at 13:21 GMT, releasing the satellite into a subsynchronous transfer orbit of 237 x 27,666 km x 27.0 deg. The satellite's own Primex/Marquardt R4D liquid apogee engine would be used to maneuver the satellite into its final geosynchronous orbit. Stationed at 151 deg W.