August 7 brings together a proud moment in Bulgaria’s history and a turbulent one — a home-built satellite slipping into orbit high above the planet, and a prime minister handing in his resignation as the country’s post-communist transition boiled over.
August 7, 1981 — Bulgaria’s First Satellite Reaches Orbit
A rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Soviet Union and carried Intercosmos-Bulgaria-1300 into a near-polar orbit roughly 900 kilometres above Earth. Built by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences on a Soviet Meteor satellite platform, it carried eleven scientific instruments — all designed and built by Bulgarian researchers — to study cosmic radiation and charged particles.
The launch was timed to mark the 1,300th anniversary of the Bulgarian state, and it placed Bulgaria among the handful of countries that then had a satellite of their own design circling the Earth.
August 7, 1990 — Lukanov’s Government Resigns
Prime Minister Andrey Lukanov walked into the Grand National Assembly and submitted his government’s resignation, capping a summer of strikes, sit-ins, and street clashes that historians would later dub the hottest political season of Bulgaria’s post-communist transition.
The Assembly held off, accepting the resignation only on August 22. Just over a week after that it turned back to Lukanov, asking him to assemble a second cabinet even as the country’s economic troubles kept deepening.
Step back to August 6 or on to August 8 for more from the series, and when you’re ready to swap dates for landscapes, our Bulgaria From Above aerial photography is waiting.
