[3] On 26 February 1985, the Ministry of General Machine-Building of the Soviet Union issued an order that formed the Main Department for the creation and use of space technology for the national economy and scientific research – Glavkosmos.
[4] Although it was originally envisioned to command all Soviet space activities, it worked more as a marketing and coordinating body than an executive agency.
[5] During the perestroika reform movement of the late 1980s, Glavkosmos started offering commercial services for global customers, aimed primarily at competing with launchers based in the United States.
Glavkosmos also featured Kosmos rockets with the successfully completed launches of Indian Aryabhata and Bhaskara satellites.
[7] The United States imposed sanctions on Glavkosmos in May 1992, after it agreed in January 1991 to transfer technology for the production of KVD-1 cryogenic rocket engines to the Indian Space Research Organisation.