11 months in space: a record; 1987 achievements in space lauded by UN Committee.

• Position: Yuri V. Romanenko; Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

Cosmonaut Yuri V. Romanenko returned to Earth on 29 December 1987 after spending 326 days-nearly 11 months-on board Soviet space station Mir, the longest time any person has ever spent in space.

China, using satellites launched by its "Long March 2" rocket, can for the first time beam educational television programmes to 2000 small receivers throughout the country including rural and remote areas. It also launched its 20th and 21st recoverable satellites, used for Earth observation and microgravity experiments.

The Andean States-Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela-signed an accord to build satellites in the future.

Nigeria has proposed a project for regional co-operation in remote sensing applications for Africa. It also is considering a national action plan for applying science and technology to development, with special emphasis on developing technical training programmes in Africa.

The United States in the next few years looks forward to sending exploratory spacecraft to Mars, Jupiter and Neptune. In the aftermath of the tragic "Challenger" explosion in 1986, it is working towards reestablishing its space transportation system, hoping to resume space shuttle launches in August 1988.

Western Europeans resumed launch operations of their Ariane rocket, with launches in September and November 1987, putting into orbit communications satellites for the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Eutelsat), Australia (Aussat) and the Federal Republic of Germany (TV SAT).

An astrophysical observatory-the special module Kvant-was launched by the USSR, docking with space station Mir. The module carried X-ray telescopes developed as a joint venture with the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland and European Space Agency (ESA).

These were among the developments in space activities in 1987 noted by John Carver of Australia, Chairman of the Scientific and Technical SubCommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, as it met in New York from 16 to 26 February.

As part of the Sub-Committee's discussions, countries described the status of their current space activities and their plans for the future. New places to go . . .

To the edge of the

solar system?

The USSR is planning an orbital station around Mars and hopes to place an automatic vehicle on its surface in the early 1990s. The United States is developing missions to study the sun, Jupiter, Venus and Mars, some jointly with the USSR.

The United States spacecraft Galileo in October 1989 is to examine the composition and physical properties of Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, and its moons.

Czechoslovakia reports that it will participate in an international project in 1988-1989 to investigate Mars, Phobos-one of Mars' two moons, the sun and interplanetary space.

The Mars "Observer", the first of a new class of United States spacecraft to explore the inner solar system, in 1992 is to place...