cnes

Launched on August 10, 1992, TOPEX/Poseidon was a joint satellite mission between NASA, the U.S. space agency, and CNES, the French space agency, to map ocean surface topography. The first major oceanographic research vessel to sail into space, TOPEX/Poseidon helped revolutionize oceanography by proving the value of satellite ocean observations. The distinguished oceanographer Walter Munk described TOPEX/Poseidon as "the most successful ocean experiment of all time." A malfunction ended normal satellite operations January 2006.

TOPEX/Poseidon was launched using an Ariane 42P expendable launch vehicle. Lift-off from Kourou in French Guiana took place on 1992-08-10. At lift-off the mass of the satellite was 2,402 kilograms (5,300 lb). The mission was named after the ocean TOPography EXperiment and the Greek god of the ocean Poseidon.

The Guiana Space Centre or, more commonly, Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) is a French and European spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana. Operational since 1968, it is particularly suitable as a location for a spaceport as it fulfills the two major geographical requirements of such a site:
it is quite close to the equator, so that the spinning earth can impart some extra velocity to the rockets for free when launched eastward, and
it has uninhabited territory (in this case, open sea) to the east, so that lower stages of rockets and debris from launch failures cannot fall on human habitations.
The European Space Agency, the French space agency CNES, and the commercial Arianespace company conduct launches from Kourou. This is the spaceport used by the ESA to send supplies to the International Space Station using the Automated Transfer Vehicle.

Crew: Andre-Deshays. French astronaut. Primary mission swap of Soyuz lifeboats. Backup crew: Eyharts.
Aboard Soyuz TM-24 were Valeriy Korzun and Aleksandr Kaleri of the Russian Space Agency (RKA) and Claudie Andre-Deshays of the French space agency CNES. This launch was the first of the Soyuz-U booster with a crew aboard following two launch failures of on unmanned flights. Soyuz docked with Mir's front port at 14:50:21 GMT on August 19; Mir was in a 375 x 390 km x 51.6 deg orbit.