Sputnik 99

Sputnik 99, also known as Radio Sputnik 19 or RS-19, was a small satellite launched on April 2, 1999 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Soyuz-U-PVB rocket. It was made by a team from Rosaviakosmos, Aéro-Club de France, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), and was paid for by The Swatch Group.

The satellite was released from the Mir space station on April 16, 1999. Even though it was meant to send amateur radio signals, that part did not work right away, which made the satellite unable to do its main job. Because of this, Sputnik 99 ended up floating in space without completing its purpose.

Program details

The Sputnik 99 satellite was built to send radio signals from space for business uses. It was made by working together with groups from Russia, France, andAMSAT. The goal was to help support the Mir space station by getting money through space advertising.

This small satellite was launched on April 2, 1999, from Baikonur on a Progress-M 41 flight using a Soyuz-U-PVB launch vehicle. It was taken to the Mir space station and later released into its own orbit on April 16, 1999, by a French space traveler named Jean-Pierre Haigneré.

Even though the satellite was meant to send ads and timing information using amateur radio, people who use these radios did not like this idea. Because of this, the part that sends ads was turned off before it was sent into space. Because of this, Sputnik 99 did not do what it was planned to do and became just another object floating in space.

Aftermath

Sputnik 99 was sent into space but never really worked. It became space junk floating around Earth. A spacecraft called Progress-41 helped move the Mir space station higher up, hoping to keep it running. Later, Progress-41 left and fell back to Earth on July 17, 1999. Sputnik 99 came back into Earth's atmosphere around July 29, 1999, and burned up.