Mission 1A/R was launched on 20 November 1998 on a Proton booster. The prime mission objective was the delivery of the FGB (aka Functional Cargo Block or "Zarya"), the first space station element to be launched. The FGB is a self-supporting active vehicle which provided the initital propulsive control capability and power supply through the early assembly stages until the arrival of the Service Module in July 2000.
