As a team of NASA/Goddard scientists and engineers watched, a Soviet-built Cyclone booster carried the second TOMS into orbit and history. In the last days of the Cold War, Meteor-3 TOMS became the first and the last American-built instrument to fly on a Soviet spacecraft. Within weeks, Meteor-3 TOMS would become the first American instrument aboard a Russian spacecraft. Launched from the Plesetsk facility near the White Sea, Meteor-3 TOMS has a unique orbit that presents special problems for processing data.

Meteor-3 TOMS began returning data in August 1991 and stopped in December 1994. The Version 7 processed data include a revised instrument calibration and an improved algorithm. The Meteor-3 TOMS was launched from Plesetsk, Russia on a Cyclone booster. This link will help you learn more about the Russian Space Agency and their future Earth observing programs.

The Meteor-3 TOMS Version 7 User's Guide (in PDF format) provides essential detail on the instrument. Here is an illustration of the TOMS instrument flown aboard Meteor-3 (15K) This link contains a picture (200K) and a short video (1.5M) of the Meteor-3 launch from the Plesetsk facility in Russia.	Here's the official Meteor-3 TOMS mission patch (98 Kbytes) Note: A 200 dpi version of the mission patch is also available (437k)
	Check out Meteor-3 TOMS data and images