Nov 22 1998
From The Space Library
Russia's first privately owned satellite, a Bonum-1 communications satellite, launched successfully from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a Delta rocket. NASA had canceled the first three attempts to launch the satellite because of numerous technical problems. The launch was also the first time a U.S. rocket had placed a Russian commercial satellite in orbit and the first time an American company had built a satellite for a Russian company. Hughes Space and Communications had built the Bonum-1 for Moscow-based Media Most, owner of Russia's largest television network. The chairperson of the board of Media Most, Vladimir A. Goussinsky, described the event as a "revolution," because the satellite would provide up to 50 television channels for 200 million viewers in Russia, western Siberia, and Eastern Europe.
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