August, 1991. The first specialists from USA visited Plesetsk.  At August, 1991, the "Meteor-3" satellite with the American made TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) aboard was inserted into orbit from Plesetsk cosmodrome. In the summer of the same year, Plesetsk received a team of experts from the American NASA and Perkin-Elmer Corporation. As well as specialized checkout and test equipment, they brought along their own food supplies, drinking water and microwave oven to cook meals. The Americans were pleasantly surprised by the conditions at the cosmodrome. The visitors were immensely impressed by the unusual beauty of primordial nature in Russian northern reaches. When it came to meals, they decided to give all their food supplies to a health center for children, once they appreciated the superb samples of Russian cuisine and expertise of the local chefs. The Americans did not take long to fully prepare their TOMS package for launching. Following the investigation of the mission results, joint work involving the TOMS spectrometer onboard a Russian satellite is likely to continue in 1997. The year 1992 was declared International Space Year. In that year  the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus was celebrated. A singular display of the exceptional capabilities of Russian space technologies was provided by the successful test project dubbed Europe - America Space Flight-500. The "Soyuz" booster, with "Resurs-500" satellite, was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in November 1992. Seven days later the reentry capsule touched down  the U.S. Western seaboard in Seattle, Washington. The dedicated project confirmed the superior reliability of Russian space technologies and their extensive capacities to handle the most unconventional tasks. The Plesetsk cosmodrome's personnel continue to uphold Russian-American cooperative ventures in space. In 1992, NASA specialists displayed interest in the research of a monkey's vestibular apparatus in the conditions of zero gravity, conducted by the Russian "Institute for Medical and Biological Problems", using the "Bion" satellite. NASA experts and biologists from a number of U.S. universities were involved in developing research architecture to be carried out by "Bion" and preparing the little monkeys Krosh and Ivasha for a space mission. Launches from the Plesetsk cosmodrome are lucrative owing to the superior boosters dependability and the opportunity offered to any customer to implement desired projects rapidly via the high frequency of space launches. In 1994, the American FAI company compared the capabilities featured by American, Chinese, French and Russian space boosters. The aim was to select the best launch vehicle for the "Faisat" satellites. The Russian "Kosmos" boosters, produced by the "Polyot Production Association", came first.     It should be emphasized, that no American-made spacecraft was allowed at that time to travel to Russia, with the U.S.A. strictly adhering to COCOM restrictions. Despite these conditions, FAI managed to obtain clearance for the launch of its "Faisat" e-mail satellite, using a Russian booster. In January 1995, one space booster was launched from Plesetsk to put in orbit three satellites: the Russian-made "Tsikada", American "Faisat", and Swedish "Astrid".