The Chinese press reported a visit with the Chinese astronaut trainees at the Chinese manned spaceflight training centre. Photographs appeared of the astronauts in training. Pressure suited astronauts were shown in pressure chamber tests. Other trainees were shown at the controls of a space shuttle-like spaceplane cockpit.

From March of 1988 to the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Iraq contracted with Gerard Bull to build three superguns: two full sized 'Project Babylon' 1000 mm guns and one 'Baby Babylon' 350 mm prototype. Gerard Bull was first contracted by the Iraqi government in 1981. They desperately needed artillery to out-range the enemy in the protracted Iran-Iraq War. The association allowed Bull to yet again seek sponsorship of a space-launch supergun. Sadam Hussein liked the idea, and Project Babylon was born. Throughout the 1980's Bull's dealings with Iraq had the covert approval of Western governments, who saw Iraq as a counterweight to revolutionary Iran.

In March of 1988, Bull received a contract to build two full sized 'Project Babylon' 1000 mm superguns and one 'Baby Babylon' 350 mm prototype for a total of $25 million. The project was given the cover designation 'PC-2' (Petrochemical Complex-2). British engineer Christopher Cowley was the project manager.

The Project Babylon gun would have a barrel 156 meters long with a one meter bore. The launch tube would be 30 cm thick at the breech, tapering to 6.5 cm at the exit. Like the V-3 the gun would be built in segments. 26 six-meter-long sections would make up the barrel, totalling 1510 tonnes. Added to this would be four 220 tonne recoil cylinders, and the 165 tonne breech. The recoil force of the gun would be 27,000 tonnes - equivalent to a nuclear bomb and sufficient to register as a major seismic event all around the world. Nine tonnes of special supergun propellant would fire a 600 kg projectile over a range of 1,000 kilometres, or a 2,000 kg rocket-assisted projectile. The 2,000 kg projectile would place a net payload of about 200 kg into orbit at a cost of $ 600 per kg.

In May of 1989 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. An Iraqi defector revealed later that the gun was to be used for several missions:

• Long-range attack using chemical, biological, or nuclear warheads. However since the weapon was fixed, it could only be fired in one direction, and like the V-3 would be easily identified and neutralised by the targeted country. For this reason the Israelis did not consider it much of a threat.

• 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.

Production of components for the Babylon gun began in Britain with the knowledge of British and US intelligence services. These were officially 'oil pipeline segments' for the 'PC-2' petrochemical refinery.

On 22 March 1990 Bull was assassinated and the project quickly unravelled. It is commonly thought that he was killed by the Israelis, concerned not so much by the supergun work but rather dynamics research Bull was doing to improve Iraqi ballistic missiles. Three weeks later British Customs seized the final eight sections of the Babylon Gun. On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, precipitating the Gulf War. This ended Western covert sponsorship of Iraq.

After the war UN teams destroyed the Baby Babylon 350 mm gun, components of the two Project Babylon 1000 mm guns (44 gun sections, four recoil cylinders), and one tonne of supergun propellant (the Iraqis destroyed the remaining 11 tonnes). Only seven slugs for the 350 mm gun were recovered and destroyed. Iraq claimed never to have received any design, assistance, materials or equipment for the planned rocket-assisted projectiles. At the end of September 1995 UNSCOM obtained information on an indigenous 600 mm indigenous Iraqi supergun design - evidence that the project had not died with Bull.

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 22 deg W in 1980-1990 As of 28 August 2001 located at 174.83 deg W drifting at 0.082 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 84.20W drifting at 0.376E degrees per day.

Provision of uninterrupted round the clock telephone and telegraph radiocommunication in the USSR and simultaneous transmission of colour and black-and-white USSR central television programmes to stations in the Orbita network. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 35 deg E in 1980-1982; 45 deg E in 1982-1986 As of 1 September 2001 located at 41.36 deg E drifting at 0.001 deg W per day. As of 2007 Feb 27 located at 101.46E drifting at 0.146E degrees per day.

This was the worst disaster since the Nedelin Catastrophe on 24 October 1964. A commission of military officers and chief designers reviewed the incident and requested changes to equipment and procedures, especially as regarded liquid oxygen handling. Another source reports that the explosion occurred during the fuelling of the Block E upper stage, and was due to hydrogen peroxide being present in a lox line filter and a confusion between fuel and lox lines. This error had always been possible, but had never happened in the 20 years of use of the booster before the explosion. The launch pad was badly damaged and not put back into service until April 1983.

Unmanned supply vessel for Salyut 6. Delivery of various cargoes to the Salyut-6 orbital station. Docked with Salyut 6 on 29 Mar 1980 20:01:00 GMT. Undocked on 25 Apr 1980 08:04:00 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 26 Apr 1980 06:54:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 3.0 days. Total docked time 26.50 days.

ASAT interceptor. First test of ASAT after extended storage. Missed Cosmos 1171 target by a large distance; over the two following days two more attempts were made with the backup engine, but all failed. On 20 April the satellite was ordered to self-destruct in orbit, ending the longest ASAT interceptor mission.

Unmanned supply vessel for Salyut 6. Delivery of various cargoes to the Salyut-6 orbital station. Docked with Salyut 6 on 29 Apr 1980 08:09:19 GMT. Undocked on 20 May 1980 18:51:00 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 22 May 1980 00:44:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 3.32 days. Total docked time 21.45 days.

The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.

Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm..

Unusable orbit; would have been NOAA 7. At engine start up, one of the booster engines suffered an internal fuel leak, causing it to run at about 80% thrust. As a result the booster was low on velocity and heavy on propellant over much of its flight and ran an incredible 50 seconds longer than the nominal burn. The NOAA Advanced TIROS payload was designed with no direct communication with the booster, and unaware of the booster problem, at 375 sec after liftoff attempted to separate with the booster still firing. The booster's continued thrusting defeated the payload's attempt to perform the required pitch maneuver. When the payload fired its apogee kick motor, it blew the top of the booster's liquid oxygen tank off. The spacecraft survived all this, but the resultant orbit was highly elliptical rather than the desired circular sun-synchronous. The mission was a total loss. Officially: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).>

High resolution photo surveillance; film capsule; maneuverable (?); also performed earth resource tasks. Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation.

Stationed at 14 deg W. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 14 deg W in 1980-1984; 11 deg W in 1984-1985; 14 deg W in 1985; 11 deg W in 1985-1988 As of 3 September 2001 located at 106.01 deg W drifting at 5.930 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 145.19W drifting at 5.924W degrees per day.

First flight of prototype for Resurs-O1 spacecraft. Also performed remote sensing tasks. Acquisition of information required for continued investigation of the natural resources of the earth; development of remote sensing methods for measuring the status of the earth's surface and the atmosphere beneath the satellite.

Unmanned supply vessel for Salyut 6. Delivery of various cargoes to the Salyut-6 orbital station. Docked with Salyut 6 on 1 Jul 1980 05:53:00 GMT. Undocked on 17 Jul 1980 22:21:00 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 19 Jul 1980 01:47:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 3.19 days. Total docked time 16.69 days.

Transmission of color and black-and-white USSR central television programmes to a network of receivers for collective use. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 99 deg E in 1980 Last known longitude (14 March 1994) 95.12 deg E drifting at 0.122 deg W per day.

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. Although there was a press release immediately after the launch (by the spacecraft SPO) that said the 2nd stage motor exploded, in reality the problem was found to be due to poor design of the electrical connectors between the 2nd and third stages and a separation problem that ripped the wiring out of the spacecraft.

Continued operation of the long-range telephone and telegraph radio-communication system within the Soviet Union and transmission of USSR central television programmes to stations in the Orbita and participating international networks (international cooperation scheme).

Manned two crew. Transported to the Salyut-6 station the sixth international crew under the Intercosmos programme, comprising V V Gorbatko (USSR) and Pham Tuan (Viet Nam), to conduct scientific research and experiments. Returned crew of Soyuz 35 to Earth. Recovered October 11, 1980 9:50 GMT.

High resolution photo surveillance; film capsule; maneuverable (?); also performed earth resources tasks. Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation.

High resolution photo surveillance; film capsule; maneuverable; also performed earth resources tasks. Investigation of the natural resources of the earth in the interests of various branches of the national economy of the USSR and international cooperation.

Cosmonaut Oleg Grigoryevich Kononenko dies at age of 42 in crash of Yak-38 VTOL fighter during takeoff from aircraft carrier Minsk in the South China Sea. Russian test pilot cosmonaut, 1980. Graduated from Zhukovsky Air Force Institute, 1975. Cosmonaut training December 1978 - July 1980.

Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 98 deg W in 1980-1981; 135 deg W in 1981-1983; 135-143 deg W in 1983; 139 deg W in 1984-1985; 10 deg W in 1985; 44 deg W in 1985-1988 As of 5 September 2001 located at 37.03 deg E drifting at 3.758 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 45.89E drifting at 3.763W degrees per day.

An Air Force repairman doing routine maintenance in a Titan II ICBM silo dropped a wrench socket, which rolled off a work platform and fell to the bottom of the silo. The socket struck the missile, causing a leak from a pressurized fuel tank. The missile complex and surrounding areas were evacuated. Eight and a half hours later, the fuel vapors ignited, causing an explosion which killed an Air Force specialist and injured 21 others. The explosion also blew off the 670-tonne reinforced concrete-and-steel silo door and catapulted the warhead 200 m into the air. The silo was later filled in with gravel.

Unmanned supply vessel for Salyut 6. Delivery of various cargoes to the Salyut-6 orbital station. Docked with Salyut 6 on 30 Sep 1980 17:03:00 GMT. Undocked on 9 Dec 1980 10:23:00 GMT. Destroyed in reentry on 11 Dec 1980 14:00:00 GMT. Total free-flight time 4.23 days. Total docked time 69.72 days.

Radio, telegraph, TV. Provision of uninterrupted round the clock telephone and telegraph radiocommunication in the USSR and simultaneous transmission of colour and black-and-white USSR central television programmes to stations in the Orbita network. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 85 deg E in 1980-1981; 25 deg W in 1982-1986 As of 30 August 2001 located at 103.91 deg W drifting at 0.397 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 3 located at 30.06W drifting at 0.092W degrees per day.

Death of Leonid Georiyevich Ivanov at Akhtubinsk, Russia. Crash of MiG-27 aircraft during test flight. Russian pilot cosmonaut, 1978-1980. Graduated from Higher Air Force School, Katchinsk, 1971 Major and pilot, Soviet Air Force. Cosmonaut training 23 August 1976 - 30 January 1979.

Successful state acceptance test flight of Yantar-4K1 satellite. Led to Yantar-4K1 acceptance for Red Army service the following year. High resolution photo reconnaissance; returned film in two small SpK capsules during the mission and with the main capsule at completion of the mission.